Couponing 101 - Be Nice, Be Prepared

If you have followed my short lived Saga... you know I was having trouble redeeming Crest White Strips coupons.

I took the information I had gathered, the Procter&Gamble's terms of Proper Coupon Redemption information sheet, and my coupons and headed into my favorite Publix. I sat down with the General Manager and the Front End Manager (and my 1 year old) and explained to them that I had talked to a representative at P&G who said ultimately it was at the store's discretion as to if they want to accept ANY coupons or not. I completely understand and respect that.

I also explained that P&G told me that this coming year they would be specifying size restrictions on the coupons, so there is no more confusion.

The managers told me that some people had been buying the Trial Sized and using the coupon in the box to buy another!! I honestly had never even looked at that coupon since the outside of the box CLEARLY states "$7 COUPON INSIDE redeemable on full sized Professional Effect Kit" and I'm too cheap to spend $52 on a full sized kit! Sure enough the coupon inside does NOT state a size. I suppose that is considered a manufacturer error. I still will NOT use those coupons to buy more trial sized.

Sometimes it is embarrassing to have to ASK about a coupon or even be called out on misusing it. But that is how we learn. I have learned to skip the hassle at the end and start with the manager any time I have a question. They thanked me today for being that kind of couponer. I see it as we are all learning together and couponing rules are going to be getting much more specific and rigid. As this trend becomes more popular, it is even more important that we ALWAYS use coupons correctly! It only takes one person to screw it up for the rest of us.

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