Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of reality shows. I have never watched Survivor or Amazing Race or any of the many shows of this nature. I would also like to point out that this show was done as entertainment and is not realistic. This is NOT how the normal couponer shops. While most of us have a stockpile, and many of us have a large amount of a few items, the amount of excess food that these people bought is just appalling. I believe that they were told to plan the most extreme trip that they could, and that is what they did. If not, no one would watch.
The stores that most of us shop have very strict rules when it comes to discounts, and I do not believe that any of them would allow me to call friends to come help me check out in order to get more discounts. I also do not believe any store that I shop would allow me to do 18 smaller transactions to take advantage of their already generous discounts. Nor would they order 1100 boxes of cereal for me because they are giving me $1 off as a store discount for every box that I purchase. It's just not good business sense.
Another thing that is not addressed on the show is how much money these people spend for coupons. Most of them have to purchase coupons from a clipping service in order to buy like this, and even though the price is minimal per coupon, this does add up. A $5 coupon could cost as much as 50¢ or more, plus shipping fees. I would never pay for coupons to buy something that I'm probably not going to use. Who needs 35 large bottles of Maalox? I also feel it is totally wrong to buy over 60 bottles of mustard and just leave one bottle on the shelf for the store's many other customers. That is just not being considerate of others. And who needs this much mustard. My family uses 3 or 4 bottles a year. That much would last me 15 years or more.
And what about the expense of their storage? Most of them either purchased or built shelving and other items for storing their stockpiles. One of them even talked about the fact that their stockpile is insured. That, in my opinion, is ridiculous!
Now, while it may be fun to save 90%-99% on your grocery order, this is not the average. I have done that, but I bought little or no meat or produce. I only bought the items that were free or almost free with my coupons. If I needed meat or produce, I still had to go to another store for them, and I guarantee the savings were 50% or less.
So, in a nutshell:
This show was mostly fiction. While these shopping trips were done, and these savings were received, policies were broken and coupons were used fraudulently in order to make the show more interesting. It does not depict the kind of couponer that I want to be.
The stores that most of us shop have very strict rules when it comes to discounts, and I do not believe that any of them would allow me to call friends to come help me check out in order to get more discounts. I also do not believe any store that I shop would allow me to do 18 smaller transactions to take advantage of their already generous discounts. Nor would they order 1100 boxes of cereal for me because they are giving me $1 off as a store discount for every box that I purchase. It's just not good business sense.
Another thing that is not addressed on the show is how much money these people spend for coupons. Most of them have to purchase coupons from a clipping service in order to buy like this, and even though the price is minimal per coupon, this does add up. A $5 coupon could cost as much as 50¢ or more, plus shipping fees. I would never pay for coupons to buy something that I'm probably not going to use. Who needs 35 large bottles of Maalox? I also feel it is totally wrong to buy over 60 bottles of mustard and just leave one bottle on the shelf for the store's many other customers. That is just not being considerate of others. And who needs this much mustard. My family uses 3 or 4 bottles a year. That much would last me 15 years or more.
And what about the expense of their storage? Most of them either purchased or built shelving and other items for storing their stockpiles. One of them even talked about the fact that their stockpile is insured. That, in my opinion, is ridiculous!
Now, while it may be fun to save 90%-99% on your grocery order, this is not the average. I have done that, but I bought little or no meat or produce. I only bought the items that were free or almost free with my coupons. If I needed meat or produce, I still had to go to another store for them, and I guarantee the savings were 50% or less.
So, in a nutshell:
This show was mostly fiction. While these shopping trips were done, and these savings were received, policies were broken and coupons were used fraudulently in order to make the show more interesting. It does not depict the kind of couponer that I want to be.
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I agree 100% with you. One question though how were the coupons used fraudulent? I saw that on another post too.
ReplyDeleteI felt dividing their grocery list up with the company to get around the store's rule was wrong as it was to call people to come to the store and divide up your list to get more. In both cases people in the store watched employees included so if they are not willing to make them abide by the rules....just looks bad THEN WE have to pay for it. Like Krogers redoing their coupon policy. I have to believe it is related.
I have been perusing the internet since the airing of this show and I found this link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jillcataldo.com/node/16258
It breaks it down how one of the participants used coupons for one product on another in several cases. For instance, she used $1/1 tub Buddig meat on the 2 oz size. She used 63 of them. She also used $1/1 Fiber One cereal coupons on Cheerios and other less expensive cereal. This shopper had a You Tube account where she supposedly had videos showing how she used coupons fraudulently at Target to get bigger discounts. I can not verify this because that You Tube account has been closed.
I have researched available coupons and found that the author of the above post is correct. There were no legitimate coupons available at the time to get such big discounts. And looking at the list that she was using tells me that many of her items actually would have had a substantial final cost. She had to be getting quite a bit of overage from something. I do get overage at some stores occasionally, but it is not by using a coupon that prohibits its use on the product I am buying.
So, that being said, I can not prove that it was fraud, but that is my opinion.
Definitely fraud! Makes us legitimate couponers look like scam artists! I'm never watching the show again!
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