Ethics of couponing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Melancholic
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Why second guess if it is right or wrong! Just use the coupon the way it was meant to be. Whatever is stated on the coupon.
 
Melancholic said:
It’s like the price of the item ends up being negative. Say an item costs $1.50, and I have a store-only coupon for $1 and another manufacturer’s coupon for $1. You can’t combine two manu. coupons or two store coupons, but it’s perfectly legal to combine one of each so long as a store’s policy allows it (which most do) and so long as no individual coupon is worth more than the price of the item. So on the receipt, it has the price of the item when it was rung up and the coupons come off at the bottom after they are scanned. If I try to check out having only bought that item, the register will lock up because the total is negative and they can’t give me money back. But people put other items in their order to soak up the “profit” they made from buying the first item, and the register has no problem. Some stores do not allow overage and the register will never allow the price of an item to go below 0, but most stores don’t have it programmed that way.

Another example is an item that generates a coupon at the register for $$ off the next order at that store. If the cashier rings up my $1.50 item, I use a $1 manu. coupon to bring it down to 0.50, and out comes a $1 coupon from the register, I have made a net profit of 0.50 (leave tax out of it). In that case no extra items need to be bought to soak up overage.

This is something that couponers do all the time and they rarely have any problems, because it usually fits within store policy guidelines. I think it is ok, because the coupons are like currency I receive from the manufacturer and the store. They both put the coupons out knowing that any redemption of their coupon costs them $1. I’m not taking more money from them than they were already offering; I am combining the different offers advantageously.
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Thanks for the explanation – I think I understand now. It seems to me that if the store had a problem with this, it would change the cash registers or its policies accordingly. Since the store allows it, I don’t really see anything wrong in it.

.
 
Langdell said:
I have the same question, Paul. If someone is walking through the store and peeling coupons off of products without buying the products, then it seems to me s/he’s stealing. It’s also unfair to the next shopper who comes along and buys a product without a peelie, not realizing that s/he’s missing out on a coupon that would normally be there.

To put it another way, would it be OK to take the spare buttons out of the pocket of a suit without buying the suit?

.
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I am not a shopper but that doesn’t mean I have never been in a store. Please inform me, I was under the impression that the discount for a pealed item was given at the time of checkout. In other words you present the item to the clerk and peel the coupon and get the discount. Can you just go in and peel the coupons and turn them in? That makes no sense, Remember I am not a shopper:eek:
 
Melancholic said:
Hi,

I have been “super couponing” since December and have already saved my family a ton of money. Last year I would regularly save 30-40% on my grocery bills by shopping sales and using the occasional coupon, but now I have slashed that in half again or better and I am giving stuff away like never before, we have a huge stockpile - it’s really crazy. I am on couponing forums where people brainstorm about deals at stores which often let a person walk away with items for free or nearly free, and sometimes a person can actually make money by buying items. I feel like there are a lot of ethical gray areas with couponing and would love to start a discussion here with other people who do this. I don’t want to put all of my questions in this first post because I would go on forever. Are there members here who want to discuss this? Sometimes I feel like I’m walking a fine line between theft and purchasing products legitimately, but I tend towards the scrupulous side, so who knows…
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If you feel uncomfortable about what you are doing you probably shouldn’t be doing it. I would not take the peelie if I wasn’t buying the product and taking bunches would fall into the categoy of greed, I would think. Just my opinion. It’s good you’re questioning it. I get told sometimes I overthink things, and I believe I sometimes do, but when I find myself doing that sometimes it’s because I should be. Kind of convoluted. Hope it makes sense to you.
 
=Melancholic;6399426]Hi,
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I have been “super couponing” since December and have already saved my family a ton of money. Last year I would regularly save 30-40% on my grocery bills by shopping sales and using the occasional coupon, but now I have slashed that in half again or better and I am giving stuff away like never before, we have a huge stockpile - it’s really crazy. I am on couponing forums where people brainstorm about deals at stores which often let a person walk away with items for free or nearly free, and sometimes a person can actually make money by buying items. I feel like there are a lot of ethical gray areas with couponing and would love to start a discussion here with other people who do this. I don’t want to put all of my questions in this first post because I would go on forever. Are there members here who want to discuss this? Sometimes I feel like I’m walking a fine line between theft and purchasing products legitimately, but I tend towards the scrupulous side, so who knows…
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As a now retired retail manager with many years of experience as a Buyer and a Store Manager; Coupons are “an offer to sell; a way to generate business.” Your simply fulfilling these intended use. Period end of story. Unless your photo copying them, your in the clear.

Love and prayers,
 
Someone said that cutting expiration dates off a coupon is a gray area and as a cashier I will say that is wrong. If the cashier misses that the date is gone the store can’t redeem it and has to take the loss and the cashier gets in trouble for taking a bad coupon.

And be aware if you are combining coupons because you could get the cashier in trouble if they don’t realize that you are using two coupons for the same item that say “not to be combined with any other offer”.
 
If a coupon states, “No purchase necessary.” How do you use a peelie or a tearoff without purchasing the product. Therefore, even if it seems too good to be true, use the discount coupon: peelie or tearoff. Let the company or merchant worry about the terms. They set up the promotion.
 
atassina said:
If a coupon states, “No purchase necessary.” How do you use a peelie or a tearoff without purchasing the product. Therefore, even if it seems too good to be true, use the discount coupon: peelie or tearoff. Let the company or merchant worry about the terms. They set up the promotion.
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It’s theft plain and simple. You are stealing from the person who was to be given a gift for purchasing a product.

With regard to cutting off the expiration date- Again theft. You are putting an innocent cashier in jeopardy as well as not abiding by the rules of the game of couponing.
 
atassina said:
If no purchase is necessary, why do you have to purchase it?
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I have never seen a peelie say No purchase necessary. I’ve been couponing for 25 years. If a company wishes to issue a coupon without purchase they put it in one of those little boxes or in an ad .
 
Melancholic said:
Ok, let me put a couple of specific questions out there.
  1. Peelies. These are the coupons that are stuck to a product that you have to peel off to use. Some couponers simply gather these and wait for a sale to buy the product. Others (like me) have taken peelies on one product to use on a different product at the same visit (like I used peelies stuck on boxes of garlic toast when buying garlic bread - same company, same price). Then there’s the question of whether this is ethical when the product you are using the peelie on costs less than the product it was stuck to. Some feel there’s no ethical problem so long as you don’t take them all. But when taking peelies there is always a person who comes around later and buys the product, and notices the clear plastic film which once had a peelie attached to it, so perhaps it’s a question of stealing from the next customer. OTOH, there aren’t all that many people who coupon so maybe it’s likely that they won’t notice or care.
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Wait a second. So, you’re taking coupons that you haven’t actually bought yet, and using them for other products?
  1. Winetags. These are tags found in the liquor section, usually hanging around the neck of alcohol bottles. Sometimes these have language like this “Save $4 on meat now, no alcohol purchase necessary.” Some couponers gather these like peelies and don’t buy the alcohol. I don’t know if “no alcohol purchase” means you don’t have to buy the alcohol at all, or if you are free to use the coupon when you had bought the alcohol on a previous visit… What is extra confusing is that these are sometimes found as tearpads and not attached to the bottle at all, which makes it seem like any other coupon that a person can rip and take with them. I have heard stories that alcohol reps simply want people to take the winetags and the benefit for them is advertising, but I don’t know whether to believe it.
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Again - I think you are supposed to buy the coupon first, and then use it. I don’t think you should just take coupons that you haven’t bought yet. :confused:
 
Buy the product use the coupon-- virtue
Steal the coupon of peelie-- vice

In the meantime, have a slice of chocolate cake.
 
Mike_Dye said:
I am not a shopper but that doesn’t mean I have never been in a store. Please inform me, I was under the impression that the discount for a pealed item was given at the time of checkout. In other words you present the item to the clerk and peel the coupon and get the discount. Can you just go in and peel the coupons and turn them in? That makes no sense, Remember I am not a shopper:eek:
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Yes, the discount is only given when checking out with the item. I’m talking about “gathering” them off products and using them at a later time when buying the item, etc. There’s no way to redeem the coupons without buying the item.
 
Seatuck said:
I have never seen a peelie say No purchase necessary. I’ve been couponing for 25 years. If a company wishes to issue a coupon without purchase they put it in one of those little boxes or in an ad .
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This is confusing to me when we are talking about winetags. Here is an example of an expired winetag that another couponer gave to me:

http://xs.to/image-1C8F_4BAB73B6.jpg

There is a purchase necessary to use the coupon, but that would only be the purchase of seafood. With a peelie, you almost always have to purchase the item it is attached to in order to use it.

A lot of you are saying that peelies that are attached to products are meant to be gifts to the people who buy them. It’s theft against the purchaser. It seems like this winetag states that the company’s products don’t have to be purchased… how do I come away with the conclusion that it’s a gift for buying the product and not just an advertisement?
 
Continuing on about winetags…

I found this, which has the rules for coupon usage on alcohol in my state of IL:
abdi.org/gov/documents/TradePracticePolicies.pdf

It says on p. 18:
IV. Procedure
Due to the potential for abuse, including fraud, the redemption of
coupons without actual purchase of product, and other “of value”
situations, the use of the “point-of-sale instant refund” coupon is
not allowed.
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Manufacturers, distributors and importing distributors may conduct
coupon programs as follows:
  1. The program must be through the manufacturer, distributor,
    importing distributor or a third party, usually a clearinghouse;
    no retailer redemption shall be allowed.
  2. “Mail-in” coupons shall require proof of purchase with a
    dated, retail-specific receipt.
  3. “Instant “ coupons shall be reimbursed to the retailer only
    with substantiation through documentation that there has been
    sufficient purchase of product to warrant the reimbursement.
  4. Coupons cannot be retailer specific.
  5. Coupons may be available in print media (newspapers,
    magazines etc.) but not by direct mail.
  6. Coupons may be available only to adults 21 years of age or
    older.
    7. No purchase requirements may be imposed.
  7. Coupons must contain an expiration date.
  8. Commission’s rules and regulations prohibiting the giving away
    of alcoholic liquor for a commercial purpose or in connection
    with the sale of non-alcoholic products or to promote the sale
    of non-alcoholic products shall apply. (Regulation 100.280)
  9. Coupons must be made available to all similarly situated
    retailers in similarly situated marketplaces in the distributors
    designated geographical area.
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So alcohol companies cannot, by law, tell me to purchase their products to use their coupons on non-alcohol items. Does that change anything?

Edit: I have seen other boards mention that these particular coupon laws only apply for hard liquor in IL, and wine and beer are allowed to have coupons which would require their purchase (which I have seen many times, “buy this bottle and a frozen pizza and get $3 off etc”) - although like my scan above, some wine and beer companies choose to issue winetags that state no purchase necessary anyway.
 
Ok, new question.

Is it wrong to trade coupons with another person who lives in a different region of the country, or buy coupons from a clipping service outside my region? They receive different coupons than I do. I think that it is wrong to misrepresent my personal information in order to receive coupons (such as typing in a zip code I don’t live in to access a coupon I couldn’t get under my own zip code), but I don’t think that it is wrong to trade or buy them from another person who lives in a different part of the country. On the other hand, companies probably issue regional coupons to bolster sales in those regions, while my region may be doing well. They’re not “intended” for me to use in my area.

[NOT speaking about coupons which clearly state they are restricted to a particular area]
 
You are absolutely right. I got into this forum last week and said, " just use the coupons as stated on it".
 
This forum continues to become more interesting. Just think: The ethics and morality of coupon clipping. Now, back to Melancholic. My Father uses coupons from my brother’s area. These coupons in my Father’s area are normally 25 cents but are $1 in my brother’s area. Is it ethical to use them? This seems to be one of the gray areas, still undefined. The companies must know that this is happening. At least you are buying their product. Write a company and ask them.

Have a piece of cake and think about it.
 
Melancholic said:
This is confusing to me when we are talking about winetags. Here is an example of an expired winetag that another couponer gave to me:

http://xs.to/image-1C8F_4BAB73B6.jpg

There is a purchase necessary to use the coupon, but that would only be the purchase of seafood. With a peelie, you almost always have to purchase the item it is attached to in order to use it.

A lot of you are saying that peelies that are attached to products are meant to be gifts to the people who buy them. It’s theft against the purchaser. It seems like this winetag states that the company’s products don’t have to be purchased… how do I come away with the conclusion that it’s a gift for buying the product and not just an advertisement?
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Seems to me that you can simply take the coupon and use it without purchasing the product. However, “harvesting” coupons seems to violate the principle of the common good.
 
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