Okay, so I’m going to hit a touchy topic in some circles. Recently, SavingStar changed their terms to indicate that their eCoupons are not intended to be stacked with paper coupons. This is a recent change in the past few months but it is a change nonetheless that many of us in the blogging and frugal community have been made aware.
From the FAQ Page:
Do SavingStar eCoupons stack with in-store discounts or manufacturer’s coupons?
SavingStar eCoupons will work whether or not you combine them with other services’ coupons, but they are not intended to be used this way. Generally, manufacturers state that it is against their policies for shoppers to redeem more than one manufacturer’s coupon for the same purchase. Using in-store coupons in combination with SavingStar eCoupons is not a problem.
In the future, we may implement mechanisms to limit the combination of SavingStar eCoupons with other manufacturer coupons.
SavingStar is sort of giving mixed messages, right? They can’t stop you from stacking the paper the coupons with their eCoupons at this time but they want you to know their eCoupons are not intended to be used in this way.
Does that mean you should do it anyway? Personally, I want to keep things as ethical as possible here at BargainBriana.com so I do not actively promote deals that require stacking the eCoupons with paper coupons unless allowed by a particular store. Since SavingStar specifically states that this is not the way their coupons are intended to be promoted, you will not see these particular deals here. Am I saying it’s unethical to use these coupons in this manner? It’s really a gray area but my interpretation on the side of caution is to not actively promote the stacking of manufacturer paper coupons and manufacturer eCoupons.
Stacking could happen very easily by accident if you activate all your eCoupons in a month and forget about a particular eCoupon that you have activated. This to me is unintentional and can be hard to track when you use multiple eCoupon services. Something you activated on December 1, may be hard to recall that it was activated when you go to buy the product on December 31.
If any of you have been around for awhile, you know you use to be able to stack Cellfire eCoupons until Cellfire and the manufacturer’s caught on to the practice. Many of the manufacturer’s were not happy to know that the savings were being duplicated over multiple channels. Cellfire, however, was able to figure out a way to kick out the paper coupons with their system.
What are your thoughts?
In all honesty I’m glad services like SavingStar are encouraging their consumers to avoid coupon stacking. I’m all for saving a buck or two, but some people get ridiculous and have ruined coupon stacking for the rest of us. Coupon stacking also depends on the store. For instance the dollar stores here only allow 1 store coupon and 1 manufacturer’s coupon to be used in the same transaction and I’m glad because any more than that would hold the line up unnecessarily not to mention, many dollar stores here are small with small counter space making many of them easily congested very quickly.
Just about every grocery store I shop at these days have enforced the 1 and 1 limit as well. And with printable coupon websites, these days its no more than 2 coupons per computer On a side I’ve also noticed recently that Unilever has cracked down and changed their coupon policy too. Now you can only use no more than 2 Unilever coupons in the same transaction per day for P&G its 4 coupons per day.
If people intend on coupon stacking Saving Star Coupons w/ manufacturer coupons I hope they take in consideration that Saving Star would have every right to create more strict coupon regulations to where it could be 1 coupon per computer or create a bar coding system that doesn’t allow the coupon to clear when stacked. A couple stores in area have that policy w/ ecoupons stacked w/ paper coupons.
For me, good coupon savings just aren’t what they used to be these days. it seems like many companies are lowering the amount you save and/or you have to buy 2 products just to save a buck when it used to be save a buck on one item. These days I limit my coupons to no more than two of the same kind, that way I’m in and out the line quicker and can organize my coupons quickly. Luckily I’ve also been able to avoid being hassled about coupons and store policies this way too. .
The whole grocery industry recently adopted new rules for electronic coupons. The new rules are coming from the manufacturers themselves and are instructing stores to program thier systems to prevent two discounts being taken on any one item.
It will probably take a few months for all grocery chains to become compliant with these new rules and expect that each one may program thier systems slightly differently. The rules as written are supposed to be designed that it gives you the maximum discount by comparing the electronic discount with a paper coupon discount.
I have noticed that Meijer has NOT set up their mPerks system that way. the really sad thing with them is if you have electronically clipped a coupon it takes it FIRST and then you are prevented from using any paper coupons (which they double up to 50 cents at most stores. So you have to be very careful about clipping the electronic coupons as you can cut your savings significantly by doing so. In the past I have seen both Kroger and Meijer take both the electronic and the paper copy of the coupon.