Are deals getting harder to come by?

[hyacinthgirl]

A little bit of it may simply be how accustomed you are to getting deals :) I know that it seems dry sometimes, but here's a theory...

The first little bit when I went shopping for deals I was still new and I was so excited about getting things for less than I used to. I did a shampoo "deal" at Walgreens that worked out to be like $2 or so for one of the big bottles that had a shelf price of $7.99 or something. Now, with a couple years under my belt, the thought of paying for shampoo --- at all!!! --- makes me a little queasy.

So part of the feeling may simply be that the excitement of it all has tapered off a little. We're so used to getting things for cheap/free that it's hard to stomach the times when we're not!

Still feel like there aren't as many deals this year tho anyway ;)

[Blues Kate]

Have exp dates on inserts tightened up as a trend? Seems like lots are now around the 2 wk mark.

[Mrs.Reese]

I've noticed more the whole package shrinking while the price is going up. Gotta agree it seems as though the expiration dates are really getting short. I too miss the old days where I could get a limit of 5 from CVS. I haven't been into CVS in two months. It just hasn't felt worth it but with back to school sales hopefully I'll get into it again. I desperately need glue sticks!

[mrsjschultz]

For me it's not a lack of deals (and I live in LOND), it's an overall issue with cashiers and management. I've been couponing for over 3+ years and it's simply getting harder and harder IMO to save $$. I know I'm burned out right now. I can feel it and I've mainly only been doing grocery deals, building up our stock-pile.

I have not set foot into ANY drugstore in almost 2 months (Wow!!! LOL). I'm just so sick of the crappy attitudes and service at this point. Not worth the time or the headache for me and my family. We also live rural so I don't have a lot of options of where to shop.

I'm hoping I'll get into the groove again come fall, but as of right now I don't miss the drugstores and the crappy attitudes.

[tinkinpink84]

Everytime i find that deals seem to be lost when i run out of that item somehow a good deal pops up! I still get excited when i save over 90% though. I only go to cvs for drugstore though. The store near me has nice people that work there and i have never had a problem there! Walgreens is way to complicated for me with there rules and having an item for every coupon your holding. So in the end no matter what you are paying a lilmore then you want because you need that something extra to use all your coupons! But it also seems like the drug stores are getting a lil competitive now. When i worked for walgreens they didnt have RR's and i never heard of rite aid. and now rite aid has the UPS deals along with the MIR that they had before. before ya know it family dollar and dollar general etc will prob be hopping into that. I think couponing is getting to be more popular now. Also when i have issues with coupons cuz they are like oh we cant take it cuz your getting such and such free im like your store is paying for the item in your ad fr your sale. Manufacturer coupon is paying the other plus they earn 8 cents! Last night the lady goes i think it will only let me scan one. Well all three scanned no problem. Sometimes its not worth the hassle with the cashier over coupons. But i really think alot of the stores are getting into the rewards programs etc to gain more customers and compete with the other stores.

[lazy1608]

I have been couponing for about 30 years or so. (I am turning 40 this year... LOL). My father has taught me well. Yes, there used to be many more thing that you can get for free, much easier, I may add, but then again there were not as many couponers and there was no internet or computer for that matter.

CVS, lately has had great deals on diapers. I am loving the less than $4 on the big boxes of diapers. You have to be willing to really investigate and spend the time getting things rather cheap or free and be willing to sometimes not be brand specific on certain things to get them free or cheap. I wish I lived in a state that had winetags or beer mir's b/c you can really do well with things that otherwise don't have many coupons for those items. I have to trade for every winetag or beer mir I can get!

Keep searching for those deals - they are out there! Good luck!!! :)

[anaj06]

I think if your stockpile is large enough, you can whether a bad season of deals and it not cost you that much more OOP.

For instance...I had so many wipes from when the $3/2 Pullup wipes came out in 2007 that I lasted (with 2 kids in diapers) till it came out again in 2009. I have lots of wipes now from the Dec 2009 version of that coupon and now the Pampers wipes $2 coupon just cam out....free at Wal-mart.

We are planning our third child sometime in early 2012....I am trying to stockpile wipes for then with this coupon. I have a little over 60 so far and still working on it; I still have a month left till it expires:). I still have one in diapers though, so I may not have enought to weather child 3 but I bet something else will come around between now and 2012.

I think a lot of times it is about buying enough each time you see the price hit what you know to be the bottom.

Remember the $5 off any Huggies and the WAGS sale with RR's....they were like $1.99 a pack. I had $100 in WAGS gift cards (from transferred Rx) saved up and spent all of them on nothing but Huggies diapers at $1.99 a pack). I still have 25+ packs and my youngest is going to be 2 next month....I bet we make it till he is potty trained on those. Meanwhile when they hit bottom other places a buy a few at a time with the coupons I have...filling in for child 3. By the time he/she gets here, I may have that covered to by buying a few at rock bottom prices here and there....that is the plan anyway.

[scentednights2002]

For me it's a combination of things.

1. Stores are stocking less so I'm finding products not in stock when I need them to be to take advantage of sales & coupons. By the time it comes back in stock, the q is expired.

2. More stores are being picky about coupons & getting things free now. Several won't take IP's especially if it's for a free item. Cashiers seem to be resistant about getting things for free after q usage.

3. More and more companies are offering IP q's instead of mailings or newspapers. That doesn't always work well.

4. I'm finding less mail in rebates than I used to. Seems like the only ones I ever see traded here are ones that require alcohol purchase & we don't drink.

5. Prices in the grocery stores are going up and coupon values are going down or are requiring multiple purchase (ex $1/3).

I do the best I can each week but it does seem to get harder and harder. Nothing like it was 10 years ago.

[dionada]

I'm too new at this still to be a good judge of whether or not deals have gotten more scarce. I do know that I've come into a dry spell with CVS - I used to get one of their $/$$ emails twice a month. The last two I've gotten from them have been a month apart, and no coupons (just those online-checkout coupon codes). But everyone else seems to still be getting them, so I'm optimistic that I'll see the sun again someday.

But if deals really are getting harder to come by, I'm not surprised, with the economy being what it is. Couponing is one of the more obvious ways to pare down your budget. The "How to Save Big With Coupons" bit is an easy few minutes of filler on the 5 o'clock news, so you have more people out there trying to compete for them.

I do think that when you've been doing it a really long time, you do lose a little perspective on it. Someone who just started two weeks ago might be excited because they got cheap toothpaste, while someone more experience scoffs at the idea of paying even 10¢ for a tube of Crest. And the seasoned vets are grumbling because they used to get paid to take toothpaste. Nothing good lasts forever...

Originally Posted by Blues Kate Have exp dates on inserts tightened up as a trend? Seems like lots are now around the 2 wk mark.

Every time there's an insert coupon from Colgate-Palmolive, it's good for three weeks. Same with Henkel and Unilever. But oftentimes, they'll put out new ones right after the old ones expire - especially Colgate. Wonder what's the thinking behind that.

[MamaBird06]

okay i guess i am still fairly new to couponing compared to a lot, but i started feb 08, just before the big influx of couponers. I know in the beginning it was a bit harder to get the deals, but i have found that in the past year either people have started tapering off with the coupons or that my local stores are keeping more stock, because i rarely find a deal that is completely sold out these days. I do think that cvs and wags have cracked down on their deals, but i am finding the grocery stores and target are increasing their goods deals, which= a fully stocked freezer for me for way cheap. While i loved the kmart super doubles while they lasted, i got so many baggies, diapers,wipes and tp for cheap/free, i am still stocked up on most the items i got there last year, that i am able to fill in the gaps as need be, when a nice deal comes along, ie pampers wipes 2/1, marcal 2/1 etc.