Print Your Coupons

Wednesdays. That's the day of the week when the new grocery ads break. I've been telling people for years that coupons are pretty good predictors of what's coming on sale. I've noticed a trend of coupons coming out in the paper 2-3 weeks before the items go on sale. I found the same trend today--but not in the newspaper, but on the Internet.

As I was going over the Albertsons' ad, many of the items on the back page of the ad that's featured in the "Buy 10, save an additional $5" section, have coupons that you can print for free on websites like: http://www.boxtops4education.com/, http://www.smartsource.com/, and http://www.coupons.com/. I'm sure that they are also available on various other websites--you just have to find them.

So the manufacturer is offering you a "double deal"--really. They are letting the stores take off the "$5" on a transaction of 10 items, which the stores will be reimbursed for; and then the are allowing the consumer to use coupons on the products as well. And at Albertsons', there is a Box Tops bonus of an additional 25 Box Tops credit worth $2.50, also printing.

So for things like Betty Crocker potatoes, that are on sale for $1 each--in a set of 10, they become $5, or 50 cents each. But the coupons are for Save 50 cents on 2...making them a quarter a box! There's a couple of different coupons available, because the one that I showed at the top of the post says Save $1 on three--making them only 17 cents a box. I can live with that. That's a tremendous savings because these are normally between $2-2.50 a box. I didn't find a lot to choose from on my ebay search, and then I found them this morning on several of the couponing websites for two free prints. That means that I won't have to miss out on this fab sale--and I won't have to wait for the coupons to come in the mail till I can cash in on the deal.

Many of the items that are included on the same deal as the potatoes, also have coupons available on the same websites. I was able to go to a couple different sites and print two copies of each. That's a great start on getting several boxes extra for storage. And I know that pizza pockets are always a hit for after school snacks. I can't cry poor if I can get them for under 50 cents a box each.

One thing that I want to stress--is that the coupons that you print at home are legitimate coupons. The stores take them and get reimbursed for them. Each coupon has an encryption on the bar code that is unique to the computer and website that you printed it from. So if you photocopy the coupons in the attempt to use the same encryption multiple times--you are committing fraud. It's an act of theft because just like a coupon you would get out of the Sunday paper--you can only use it once, and the store can only have it redeemed once. If you attempt to use it more then once, it's stealing from the store's profits and puts the whole trust in the consuming market in jeopardy. It could also result in the loss of having the manufacturer provide coupons in this manner. So please be honest and considerate in the way that you use this form of couponing.

With that being said--there are ways to accumulate more than one of each coupon legally. If you have more than one computer in your home--you are allowed two printed from each URL web address. [I'm talking in lingo I don't even really understand...so bear with me.] Each computer has it's own domain in cyberland and you can have 2 prints from each address. The more computers you have...the more prints. That is fine. But printing duplicate copies or photocopying the original print, or altering the coupon in any way constitutes fraud and is a very serious felony. It' not worth the loss in consumer integrity, or personal integrity. Be wise and be smart in your savings.