Couponing is growing by leaps and bounds...

[mama22qts]

Man, couponing has taken off like a rocket in my town! I'm sure it probably has too in everyone else's town. Which means there are LOTS more people looking for the deals. And LOTS more opportunity for unethical, or maybe just inexperienced, couponers to take advantage of the system.

I try to steer as many people as I can to this site to encourage ethical couponing but I swear sometimes it's a losing battle!

Anyhow, I wanted to thank all the leadership here for your committment to ethical couponing -- it's great to have this site as a reference for newbies!

And PLEASE send all the new couponers you meet to this site. They need to know the RIGHT way to do things!

[MaryMary]

Can you tell us what events prompted you to post all above?

[KristieGK]

So I take what you are unhappy about is not that more people are couponing. But rather because "jill coupon lately" isn't doing it correctly??

Your title makes it sound like you don't want anyone new at all couponing. lol

[mama22qts]

Oh gosh, no -- I should change the title, huh? I just want everyone to do it the right way! We have a new grocery store in my town which has been very coupon friendly over the last few months but is in the midst of changing policies now because of people gone hog-wild.

I guess I come at this from a veteran's standpoint of tempering the savings so you can save more over the long run...instead of going all out and short circuiting your savings because the store changes their policies.

No, I LOVE that people are couponing! For one thing, i'm not the crazy coupon lady anymore!

[mama22qts]

Anyone else have an influx of new couponers? Kinda makes you feel like an old pro!

[KristieGK]

I have the opposite problem in my town. There are soo few people that use coupons, that the cashiers know nothing about them. Hand them coupons and they look at you like you handed them monopoly money. I had one cashier call the manager cause she did not believe me that she had to scan it. Plus, they don't understand the terminology. Like, per transaction and per purchase.

I swear I personally have had to train every cashier in every store I shop at on a regular basis. So, maybe if and when coupon usage increases here it will be easier for them. I've broken everyone in. lol

[mama22qts]

I used to be there! with this economy though it won't be long before you'll have company, I'm sure.

[judeshoney]

There's a little diner where we go to breakfast every Sunday after church. People just kind of leave their papers there and they collect them near the front. I used to be able to go through and take all the inserts. From my research, dumpster diving is illegal in my county - so it was a good way to get extra coupons. I could usually get 5 or 6 extra inserts per week.

Now, there's never any inserts there - at all! Either the waitresses are snagging them or folks aren't leaving them behind anymore, I don't know which. I'm still getting the deals, I just need to work harder at trading to get the extra q's I need.

My friends and family laugh at me, but I just keep telling them "I was cheap when cheap wasn't cool!"

[mama22qts]

Seriously. I told someone the other day that I couponed when couponing wasn't cool. And boy was it ever NOT cool! I live in a resort town and the median income is $70k. No one here couponed. They do now, though! I'm teaching classes!

[ILv2Shop]

For the last month, someone has been taking all the inserts out of the papers at the stores. I just want to go stake it out and catch them so bad. I only walked away with 4 papers out of all the places I went. I know it'll come back and bite them somehow but it's still frustrating.