The Lives of Coupon Enthusiasts
Within minutes, Knight — a part-time dental hygienist with glossy, nearly waist-length blond hair and enviable white teeth — had discovered a sale on StarKist tuna fish. “Oh, Cathy, the tuna’s a dollar right now!” she said, as she stood before a shelf containing shiny blue plastic pouches of chunk-light tuna. A bulging nylon binder, which she had seated like a toddler in the front of her cart, held six StarKist coupons for 50 cents off; paired with Albertsons coupons, they were worth a dollar each, the same price as the tuna. “So it’s free right now,” she continued. “And we haven’t even blogged about it!”
For “couponers,” as they call themselves, free product is the holy grail. Freebies are obtained by combining various promotions in ways that can seem laborious and arcane to the civilian shopper: waiting for items to go on sale and then using coupons to buy them; “stacking” manufacturers’ coupons with store coupons; shopping during “double coupon” days; or receiving, post-purchase, a “catalina” — a coupon from a company called Catalina Marketing that can be redeemed on a future transaction. These little papers, which are spit out by a mini-printer that sits near the register and look like run-of-the-mill receipts, usually meet an unceremonious end in the graveyards of shoppers’ pockets and purses, but couponers regard them as cash.
I have seen exactly one episode of the TLC show, “Extreme Couponing,” which gave me mixed feelings because it’s amazing that these people can save so much money by studying promotions and getting the right mix of manufacturer and store coupons. There’s a science to it. But a lot of food that manufacturers provide coupons for are also highly processed, and there’s something borderline Hoarders about all that space the products take up in people’s homes.
But the thing I did like about this coupon clipping feature in The New York Times Magazine was that extreme couponing saved this woman and her family from losing their home, and that’s something to be admired.
Yeah, I’d much rather spend a bit of extra money and get fresh, whole foods rather than whatever happens to be on sale at the moment. The things that are actually worth eating rarely seem to go on sale anyway. I figure I’m saving on future health costs plus I really enjoy eating good food anyway.
@peacheater Yes, spending $12 on some fruit to eat throughout the week seems a lot more cost-effective to me than spending $12 on 50 pounds of groceries that then need to be stored (along with the rest of your boxed food backlog) in a food bunker you’ve constructed in the basement.
I have often referred to that show as “Hoarders But Organized.” I did like the man who got 1100 boxes of Total and donated them to a food pantry, though.
Yeah, my dad loves clipping coupons but because he refuses to buy a lot of the highly processed food he doesn’t get to use as many as he’d like. But he still gets giddy over the dollar-doubler coupons.
I am so torn about couponing. On the one hand, I feel like it’s a good thing for those who want to save/earn money for their families but for whom it might be difficult to have a full-time job away from home (like stay-at-home moms). On the other hand, as noted, there are not usually coupons for GOOD foods. It’s always, like, frozen pizzas and candy. And oh god, the amount you have to buy in order to save a lot! Like, how are these families of four going through 60 jars of spaghetti sauce?? How??? Without eating spaghetti every single night?
I think a nice option is to get a ton and then giving 70% of it to food banks. That way, you’re still spending basically nothing but you end up with a REASONABLE amount of food, instead of too much that will go to waste.
@OneTooManySpoons CVS has the best coupons program. You get coupons for stuff like makeup, toiletries, tissues, medication etc. The food coupons, I agree. It’s rare that they are useful, they’re usually a “Buy 2, get 50 cents off” deal, or totally processed food. In-store promotions are also usually a better deal, so just check your circular.