Are deals getting harder to come by?

[CLN123]

I know there was a thread a while back ago titled "are the deals dying", but I couldn't find it. Anyways, this is how I feel. I feel like lately there hasn't been a lot to get excited about when it comes to great deals. Every now and then a good deal will come along, but nowhere near as often as they used to. I feel store prices have gone up in general and when there's a good coupon out, sometimes they raise the price. Does anyone else feel like the deals are fewer and far between?

[434Teresa]

This happend from time to time..when you get a good coupon hang on to them for a week or two for alot of the times the sale dont show up when the coupon dose. If you dont get a sale ad for all your stores check for them online and see what you might find that way.
If you shop at walmart they do raise prices but not all due to the coupons that are out its, they roll back this and raise that to make up the differance in what they have on roll back that month/week..
I went threw a spill about feb or so and nothing I needed or wanted was on sale and the coupons in my paper will was junk to me, but keep in mind that what I see at junk is anothers great find and that gose for coupons to..just hang in there it will pass in a month or two.

[thecouponclippa]

I've noticed I go through the coupon blahs in the late winter/early spring. When summer picks up, so does my feelings about what's on sale.

However, I do notice that from when I started, the deals are harder to do. You have to pay a little more to get a little less. For example:

Last summer, we got the $2 off any sugar when you buy 10 packs of kool-aid. I used this on store brand sugar and saved a bundle. Was like a total of 1.09 for all 10 packs of kool-aid and 5 lbs of sugar. This year it's on Domino, which is the most expensive sugar ( regular refined, anyway.) on the market in my area. I'll still save some money and stock up, but it wasn't as great as I wanted it to be. :T

[Kelly Long]

Seems to me it is a lot harder since the beginning of last year. there are still some deals but you have to get there first thing or you don't get them. also many of the clerks don't like couponers and don't want you to get anything free.

[Lmnde]

I started up couponing again about 3 years ago [after about a 5 yr break in betweens], and "hardcore" couponing about 18 months ago, when I realized that the deals in comparison to when I first started up again, were not as good and harder to find, and fewer "frees" were available to be gotten.

Overall speaking - looking 3 years back - yes most definitely. What used to be "regularly and routinely" free, requires loads of legwork and juggling, and they are more often than not - not free any longer, while .05 or .09 or even .25 or .50 OOP is not much, it's also no longer free, and that makes a difference on my bottom line.

There are more couponers out there, more shelf clearing, fewer great deals, prices went up and product package sizes went down - yes it is harder. I have to really utilize all available means to get the deals I need to be getting - from rain checks, to multiple store cards, to hitting multiple stores in one shopping trip to really being able to stock up as well as extending my shopping cycle and adding more + different stores [franchises] to it, that I would usually not shop at due to distance.

While in the past I was satisfied with getting 5-10 of any product on a good sales deal [because you knew it would just come around again sooner rather than later], nowadays I try for 20 or 30 or more - because the next time [cycle] around, I may not be able to get them for free or similar low OOP any more. Now more than ever, I try to have an 8-12 month supply of what we need most stocked up.

[loveebella]

I have only been couponing since 09 so for me the deals seem pretty good :D
I never knew there was a way to save so much money.
I was thinking to myself yesterday a store has cereal on sale 1.50 box and w/ a 1/2 q that is 1.00 a box.
I think that is as cheap as i can get it, and I only have about 4 boxes left so i need to stock up or I can go back to paying 2.50 or more for 1 box of cereal. Gosh I cannot believe I used to pay that for cereal was I insane?
I never knew the old glory days of couponing so for me the deals are ..in the words of Tony the Tiger GREAT!! Yes I used to buy Frosted Flakes full price :(

[heartse]

When I started I was doing alot of CVS deals. Now they have a limit of 1 on almost everything, instead of it being limit 5. That makes it difficult to get any traction at all. And the ECBs and the RRs (at WAGS) have dried up a bit too.

I do think that the deals are getting fewer and further in between... unfortunately. Well the phenomenal deals that is... general deals are still to be had, but mostly at the grocery store for me. I don't have a ton of time to put into chasing all the deals all the time. But, that's ok... I will survive.

[res030ei]

me too loveebella. This past Frebruary was 1 year for me coupon shopping and stockpiling. I do shop at more than one store though. i dont think the deals are getting harder to come by. I do buy 20-30 too like a pp said when they find a good deal. i wasnt coupon shopping when cvs had a limit of 5 per deal. That would be nice though.

[Lmnde]

Do you all remember when CVS had the 3/10, 3/15, 4/20, 5/20, 5/25, 6/30s, 10/50ies in masses - booklets, online mailings, flyers etc? And many deals had NO limits at all, and even with limit 5 you got loads and loads of free stuff every week. Back then I had an average of $80-100 ECBs in my folder all the time... Now I just keep around $10-15 ECB, as it is simply not worth the hassle any longer, and more often than not there is nothing decent to roll them into the week after you make them.

[Blues Kate]

Yes, I feel this way, too. Mainly because I live in an area where there are no doubles, no tear pads, no blinkies, no MIR's, no CVS. I do have a Wags and am thankful for Target's stacked q's. Otherwise Wal-Mart is my only choice for grocery. It takes a lot of time trading to try and make something out of nothing.