This webinar is the first in a series of webinars that were created to teach you how to save over 65% on your monthly grocery and drug store purchases.
2. Before You Begin Couponing will not cause a store, nor a manufacturer to go bankrupt or unexpectedly lose money. Stores are paid a flat .08 handling fee in most cases plus the face value of the coupon. This is a profitable practice! Manufacturer’s specifically budget for coupon distribution. They “plan” on tempting you to buy their product at a reduced price. Don’t let anyone make you feel guilty or ashamed for using coupons.
3. What is a Coupon? According to about.com, a coupon is promotional tool in the form of a document that can be redeemed for a discount when purchasing goods or services. Coupons are generally issued by manufacturers or retailers to the consumer and may be distributed through direct mail or other marketing means. A coupon will feature a specific savings amount or other special offer to persuade consumers to purchase specific goods or services or to purchase from specific retailers.
4. Things to Know About Every Coupon Value of the coupon Expiration Date of the coupon Source of the coupons (mfg vs. store) A specific description of the product(s) to which the coupon applies Quantities needed to trigger coupon i.e. ($1/1 vs $1/2, etc). Specific limitations for number of like coupons per transaction
5. Other Things to Note Handling fee for the coupon Specific handling instructions (for the retailer and consumer) The Bar Code – This is especially important for internet coupons where there are problems with counterfeiting. More to come later on!
6. Types of Coupons Manufacturer – these are the old fashioned coupons that we grew up with. They are issued by manufacturers in attempt to persuade you to purchase their product. Store- store coupons are issued by specific retailers in an effort to persuade you to shop at their specific store. $ off Your Total - these coupons are one of the best. They take a specified dollar amount off of your total order at the end of the transaction. These are almost always store coupons. Competitor – these are store coupons that are issued at one store i.e. Target that you are allowed to use at another store, i.e. Publix. Internet Printable – these coupons are downloaded and printed from the internet from a couponing website such as coupons.com or from the manufacturer website itself. In order to print these coupons you will have to download and install specific software to your computer. In rare instances, companies will post a .pdf version of their coupon on their site. Most printable coupons allow you to print them a limit of two times.
7. Types of Coupons Blinkies– these are the coupons that you see hanging from the shelf with the blinking red light. They are all over most grocery stores. You can find them in the aisles, in the dairy department and in frozen food. Peelies- these are the coupons that are placed on products at the point of sale that you can peel off and use in that shopping trip. Hangtags- these coupons are usually on drinks, detergents, medicines and anything else that has a bottleneck. They called hang tags because they hang from the prodcut. Contrary to peelies, these coupons typically don’t have any adhesive on them.
8. Types of Coupons Tearpads – These are exactly what they sound like. They are the pads that sales and marketing reps from the various companies place on or around the shelf of the specified product. You are able to “tear” off the coupons and use them for that product or others that pair nicely with it. Catalinas – these coupons are named after the Catalina Marketing Corporation. They are the coupons that print out at the point of sale and are handed to you with your receipt. These coupons can be either store coupons or manufacturer coupons. Many times they are discarded into the trash along with the receipt, never to be seen again and redeemed.
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10. Couponing is not your mom going to the store with a few coupons that she cut out of the paper to save fifty cents here and a quarter there.
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12. Where do I Find Coupons? The Newspaper Online In the stores In your mailbox
13. Breaking Down Your Inserts Find an area that will allow you to break down your ad so that it can be properly rebuilt. Start a pile for each page by laying them down side by side as seen to the right. You then take your next insert and lay the pages on the appropriate pile. Continue to follow this process until you have sorted all of your.
14. Breaking Down Your Inserts We buy 20 papers each week. The next thing that we do is count ten of the first page of the insert. We do this because if you staple more than ten of them together they may end up crooked when you cut them. It is easier to make bundles of ten than it is to try to get crooked coupons to scan if part of the UPC is missing or the expiration date is cut off. For the cover and all other pages that fold over, we make sure that the papers are completely lined up and then put a staple in each of the four corners. For the inserts that are only one page, we just put a staple in the center of the top and one in the center of the bottom. We then make two piles (one for each bundle of 10). As you staple the piles, you lay each bundle of ten on the top of the appropriate stack.
16. File Them Puppies! Make a tab with the current date Place all inserts from the correct date behind the tab LEAVE YOUR COUPON INSERTS ALONE!!!
17. Internet Printables and Stragglers Do what works for you You definitely need some sort of system Categorize your file by areas in the store
18. Planning Your Trip Match the ad items you need with the coupons that you have File your coupons in a caddy by store Prepare your spreadsheet ahead of time so that you know if there is a discrepancy Keep track of what is going into your cart Go to the store prepared!
20. What is a Stockpile? Grocery store ads typically run in 12 week cycles. Each of your staple items will typically be on sale for a good price every 12 weeks. We need to buy a 12 week supply of those staple items at the lowest price in the cycle every 12 weeks. As you accummulate your items, that becomes your “stockpile”.
21. How to Cheat the Learning Curve Track your quantities For the stockpile quantity tracking chart, visit our webiste. Click on the “tools for success tab” then click on the sub-menu for “building my stockpile”. This will give you articles and forms you can use for both your stockpile quantity and stockpile price. Track your prices It is better to overbuy a little than not buy enough. Use online resources to help you catch the best deals. We offer tons of tools on FB and our site
22. Coupon Etiquette Organize your coupons before you hand them to the cashier Write in any prices for free items prior to presenting them to the cashier. This keeps the line moving Only use coupons for what you have Take it easy on the stores with the competitor coupons. Overuse will ruin it for everybody. Remain pleasant throughout your transaction. From my experience many cashiers are working out of necessity and this is their second job. You will get much further with sugar than you will with salt. Get to know your management. By building a relationship and opening the lines of communication with the management, you will be able to get things done.
