This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure here.
Printing Coupons
It seems that printable coupons are becoming the best money saver out there. Their values are typically higher than coupons in the Sunday paper, and you can usually get more than one without having to buy more papers. There are two things about printable coupons that make people afraid of them: difficulty of use and difficulty printing. Let me try to help with both issues.
First: Of all the stores in my area there is only one store that I know of that does not take printed coupons and that is Rite Aid. There are always rumors out that stores are going to stop taking them or people have experiences with bad clerks and are told that they can not take them, but as a whole most corporate policies state that they do take printable coupons.
If a store gives you a hard time:
1. Speak to the manager if it is a store clerk causing problems. Show them the individualized areas of your coupon – coupons.com has a small “dotscan” barcode under the expiration date and every coupon is different, smartsource has an individual number next to the bar code on the bottom.
2. If the manager is still saying no, step aside and call the corporate office (ask the manager for the number, they know it). Tell them that the store is giving you a hard time with coupon usage and that you have printed coupons from _______ (source). Most will tell you to put the manager on and they will kindly tell them to stop giving you a hard time. Some Corporate offices do leave situations up to the manager but you can still ask to file a complaint against the store for lack of customer service.
3. If all else fails don’t check out and just leave. Let them put your items away and make a point that you will take your business to another store.
You can always remind the clerk or manager that they will still get their money back for the product it just won’t be you paying them.
If you have problems printing coupons:
Do you use Firefox?
1. If a coupon is not printing, stuck in the please wait screen, or tells you that it is not compatible with your browser — right click on the tab for the screen you are in and click “Switch Rendering Engine” This will automatically reload the page in Explorer without you having to do anything else. (Thanks to my husband for teaching me that one)
2.If you upgraded to version 3.0, Smart Source and ecentives were not ready for the change and are not compatible. You can either un-upgrade or use the switch rendering engine tip above.
How to print more than 1?
After a coupon finishes printing hit your back arrow button (top left corner of your screen) twice to reload the print coupon screen and it will automatically print the coupon again. Most coupons hae a print limit of 2 per computer so this only works once.
Want more than 2?
Find a friend with a computer, relatives, even a second computer in your house. The limit is 2 per IP address really and each computer has a different address even in the same house.
You have tried switching browsers and it still won’t print or tells you that you have already printed it:
This usually means that the coupon is no longer available. Don’t spend too much time trying to figure it out, just start working to find a new coupon.
Lastly I have said this before, if you find a printable coupon that you will use print it when you find it not when you want to use it. All coupons offered have a maximum limit that they are going to give out. When that limit is reached it is gone (especially on coupons.com and smartsource). After you print a coupon you will probably have about 4 weeks or more before it expires and you should find a good sale in that time period. After you print a coupon don’t think you can never have it again. A lot of companies that keep the same coupons up year round, reset the coupons every month or so, and you get to print your limit all over again.
