Coupons Coupons Coupons

Everyone has used a coupon for something. It may have saved you a dollar at the grocery store, or a few bucks at a restaurant, or half-off at a carwash. And anyone who has purchased a Sunday newspaper has seen the colorful stack of pre-printed advertising circulars.

Currently, there are three companies who create and distribute the "coupon flyers". Red Plum, Smartsource, and Procter+Gamble have regular distribution throughout most of the USA. Red Plum and Smartsource each have websites that allow you to select specific coupons and print them out, generally three-to-a-page. Proctor+Gamble has a consumer-oriented website, but generally does not offer computer-generated coupons.

When you access http://www.redplum.com/ or http://www.smartsource.com/ (or http://www.coupons.com/), you are prompted to download a small software widget called the "coupon printer". This scares many folks off, but thousands (millions?) of consumers use this software daily and have decided that the "risk" of adding this small program to your PC is vastly outweighed by the benefits. Sure, you are sharing information with the marketing company, but the shareware program does not appear to impact PC performance nor does it prompt any crazed popup programs, malware, nor virus-laden adware.

The "coupon printer software" tracks your coupon printing. Once you have exhausted your two prints, you will be unable to print any additional copies of that coupon. The coupon check-off box may be shaded in, preventing you from selecting it for print. Or you may go through the entire process only to get a blank printout, a message on your screen telling you that you have "no prints remaining", or even a coupon shaped print that says "sorry" (wasting your ink!!). Often, the marketing companies do re-set their coupons (generally at the beginning of a month, but also if they re-launch a product with some type of advertising campaign.

All of these examples are MANUFACTURERS coupons. They are funded by the companies which produce the item being sold.

Coupons can be used at nearly all grocery and drugstores. Internet-generated coupons were once rather problematic, but the printing software has made them much more widely accepted. And no, you cannot simply photocopy coupons. That is coupon fraud.

All manufacturers reimburse the stores when the merchant mails in the coupons. So don't ever feel as if you are "stealing" from the store. Every grocery and drugstore is reimbursed in full for every coupon you hand the cashier, plus a small handling charge PER coupon (usually 8 cents).

Every person who "coupons" has their own way to keep track of their coupons. Some use binders, some use envelopes, some use recipe boxes, some only carry the ones they plan to use, some carry everything. If you are just starting, then you should do whatever is simplest for you.