Legal Tender: Coupons?

What would happen if you tried to use a fake $20 at the store?  It’s the cashier’s responsibility to pay attention to the tender he or she is accepting.  There are two possible scenarios that I see:

1. If the money is accepted then you walk out of the store having paid $20 less for your purchases.  But when the store goes to deposit that fake $20 it won’t be accepted by the bank, and the store losses out. 
2. The cashier realizes that the $20 is a fake and you could be charged with fraud if the store feels like you did this intentionally. 

With either scenario, over time stores that are hit by people using counterfeit money will adopt measures to prevent this.  I don’t see them going to a no cash policy, but I do see stores having “plastic only” and “cash only” lines to allow them to be more diligent in checking for counterfeit money.   Now, all of this seems pretty unlikely, but I think you understand what I’m getting at.  The more a system is abused the more restrictions will be put into place.

The same principle applies to real money.  You can put a dime into a token machine at the arcade, but it will be rejected.  A quarter put into the dollar slot on a vending machine will quite possibly render the machine useless.

So why am I talking about using fake money and coins in machines?  Because money is legal tender and basically so are coupons. A manufacturer Q is
offered by the manufacturer and the manufacturer will reimburse the
store for face value plus a handling fee (usually $.08) when the
qualifying item is purchased.  A store Q is offered by the store and the
store reduces the price of the qualifying item.  In either case you’re paying with a coupon, so you need to use the coupon in the way it was intended or you’re putting yourself at risk of being prosecuted for fraud. 

The bottom line is that a coupon is legal tender you can use at stores that accept them. Notice that earlier I said “qualifying item”.  If a coupon for 32 oz peanut butter is used to buy 16 oz peanut butter, it’s fraud and the store won’t be reimbursed.  If a coupon for a “fabulous new candy product” is used to buy the “plain old candy product” it’s fraud and the store won’t be reimbursed. Just like when paying with cash, it’s the cashier’s responsibility to make sure that the coupons we use are for the correct items. It is our responsibility to read the fine print before we get to the register. 

The same goes for price matching.  Ads are designed to lure people in.  They can make the smallest box of cheeze-its (priced at $.50) look huge, and they do so fully expecting throngs of people to look at the ad and throw the large box of cheeze-it’s into their cart (priced at $2.59 and at eye level on the shelf) not paying attention to the tiny box on the bottom shelf marked at $.50.  Most people don’t watch the register or pay attention to their receipts, so they’d never realize their costly mistake. We have to pay attention to the fine print on ads before we price match something.  If the ad is for 12 oz hot dogs $.99, don’t pick up the 16 oz hot dogs and try to get them for $.99.  It’s fraud and you could be prosecuted for it.

There are numerous cases of fraud being investigated right now where consumers have intentionally tried to beat the couponing system and have purchased larger, more expensive products than the coupons they redeemed were for.  This costs stores hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Eventually stores will stop accepting coupons, or restrict the # you can use.  We’re seeing the Houston area no longer allow doubles and triple coupons at Kroger.  Many stores will now only double or triple one like Q per transaction.  In Tyler, one Walgreens store is limiting the number of transactions to 1 per day and is asking all customers with more than a couple of items/coupons to check out at cosmetics so that their coupons can be scrutinized.  Yes, I do mean scrutinized.

Why are things like this happening?  At my Wags, it’s because a lady came in several times and cleared the shelves of all swiffer products, using $10 Qs for a swiffer product that store doesn’t even carry.  They lost hundreds of dollars for her fraud. 

Is it easy to make a mistake? Yes, I’ve made them and I do my best to correct them when I make them.  I recently carried around a $1/1 Uncle Ben’s Q and didn’t realize until I was about to run to the store on the day it expired that it was for $1/1 Uncle Bens product WYB 1 lb. meat.   I often see catalina Qs that say WYB meat, get used without purchasing meat.  Even if a cashier accepts a coupon, it’s still fraud to use it for something other than what it’s intended folks.  Just because the babysitter lets your kids eat candy for breakfast doesn’t make it right, does it? I know other bloggers and “coupon pros” who have used coupons for products they weren’t intended for.  One recently told me that she didn’t realize it until after she came home and posted, then a reader pointed out that the Qs were for a different product.  She removed the post immediately so others wouldn’t do the same thing.  It happens folks, but we have to do our best to use coupons with integrity.  If you aren’t sure what about a what a specific product  is (extra crispy or ripples), search for it online to see what the packaging looks like. If you realize that you bought the wrong product using a Q, do the right thing and return it so that you can purchase the correct one.   I’ve seen some coupons for years, that have recently changed their wording. So be careful to check the fine print on all coupons.

If the cashier doesn’t agree with you on a coupon, keep your cool and ask for the manager.  If you still aren’t successful at being allowed to use a qualifying coupon, remember the names of the cashier and manager and call corporate.  You don’t want to get angry and cause a ruckus at the store.  This will just make you remembered as an unpleasant customer and will make them less likely to do you any favors in the future.

Coupon with integrity folks.  If you’re using a Q you’re not supposed to, or price matching something that isn’t the correct item, it’s no different than paying with counterfeit money.