How does manufacturer coupon work

Other weeks still you might find two SmartSource and two Red Plum inserts. One thing I can say with certainty: the first of the month tends to have better coupons and holiday weekends often have no inserts.

Other reliable sources of manufacturer coupons include:. This means that you can decide where to redeem them for the best value. One thing we are seeing more and more is stores going to electronic methods of couponing. Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC, Albertsons, and Target all offer some form of coupon program where you can load coupons to your phone or loyalty card.

These discounts will come off at the point of sale when you buy the correct items and use your card or phone at checkout. These coupons may be store coupons or manufacturer coupons. Is there a learning curve to couponing?

In fact, I recall distinctly the first week I learned to use coupons. I have found that many new coupon users are able to experience a similar experience very, very quickly in.

So what do you need to know to get started? Here are the basic ground rules, taking into account new rules and recent changes:. I am sometimes asked how e-coupons fit into this equation. I know your head is likely swimming with information now. Have I overwhelmed you? Pick ONE store, preferably the one you do most of your shopping at any way, and read and re-read their coupon policy. Try adding in a couple coupon deals to your normal shopping trip and gain confidence!

What other questions do you have about the basic mechanics of coupons? I work at Fred Meyer and one of the biggest problems we have is that some of our products have coupons hanging next to them that are manufacture coupons redeemable at Fred Meyer. Some customers think these are Fred Meyer coupons and therefore they can stack them with another manufacture coupon. But if it says manufacture coupon on it then it cannot be stacked with another manufacture coupon.

Also FM has a limit of 5 like coupons per transaction and also a limit of 2 coupons per manufacture for internet printed coupons. They also will not take a coupon for a totally free item that is internet printed. As a cashier it is good to know what legit coupons look like. There are many things we look for on internet coupons like the dots in the expiration box, the picture of the product on the left side, the logo under the amount of the coupon and the serial number of the coupon.

So people should not get mad at their cashier if they say they will not take a coupon. I had one a few days ago that didnt have the dots in the date, didnt have a picture or the logo thing under the price and I told the lady that I could not take it and she said it printed that way.

Well I know as a consumer how these coupons are suppose to look and I have never had a coupon print like that. I just have to say that your blog posts have been so helpful! Thanks so much for taking the time to explain everthing so clearly and for organizing the posts so that they are easy to follow. Just wanted you to know that your efforts are appreciated!

There are times when Target puts out manufacturer coupons and they look very similar to the Target store coupons — they even have a Target logo on them. Although this is true — often times people have trouble redeeming Target manufacturer coupons at other retailers because of the Target logo on them. Do you have any questions about the difference between store coupons and manufacturer coupons?

Leave a comment on this post. This post is part of a series on Coupons: The Fine Print series — check back soon for another post covering the topic of coupon fine print. Is it good everywhere? Is this correct? It is said coupons. I went to redeem them at a different store and was told no.

I complained and said they clearly state manufacturer and not store coupon I know the difference. I blogged about it today and would love your advice, comment, either here or on my post, or both. One of my readers sent me the link to your site. Just found out I can use an Enfamil coupon and an enfamil check at the same time!!! Wish I would have known that for my last kid!!!

I wish you could preview the coupons before you print them to avoid the hassle. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Queen Bee has been my go to for many years.

Not only how to save on the family grocery budget. But, how to shop. At that scale it becomes a major headache! The whole process seems hopelessly antiquated, but coupons remain enormously popular and that is why they continue.

A coupon is, essentially, free money, and free money is hard to stop If you use coupons, you know that when you reach the check out counter, you hand the cashier your coupon s. The cashier scans them and puts them into the cash drawer. What happens next depends on the store, but here's a typical process.

At the end of the day the coupons in each cash drawer are added up as if they were cash, and that amount is added to the cash sum to be sure the overall total for the drawer is accurate. Then all of the manufacturers' coupons and any coupons issued by the grocer are sent in plastic bags or pouches to the store's corporate headquarters, typically once a week.

In the big store chains, the value of the coupons can easily total several million dollars per week. There is a person in headquarters in charge of processing the coupons. That person boxes all of the bags of coupons still separated by the individual stores from which they came and ships them to a third-party clearinghouse.

This is where the real work starts. The clearinghouse has to sort through millions of coupons, largely by hand. The first goal is to separate the coupons by manufacturer. Another goal is to separate coupons with scannable UPC codes from damaged torn, smudged, etc.

This is so much hand work that some clearinghouses pay other clearinghouses -- in Mexico, for example -- to do part of the work. One system places scannable coupons face up on a conveyor belt, where they are moved along under a scanner that reads the UPC codes and tallies the amounts, then adds up the total value of each manufacturers' coupons.