Couponing for profit & my thoughts....

Honestly, I do not NEED 20 boxes of Post Cereal. But when there are deals out there where you can find coupons to only spend 35 cents on five boxes, and get back a $5 off your next purchase coupon, wouldn't you do that?


I would like to clarify that "off your next purchase" coupons are referred to as "catalinas" in the couponing world, because the company that produces them is actually named Catalina.


Catalinas print out as part of promotions. Buy "X" amount of Proctor and Gamble products, General Mills products, Post products, Johnson's products, etc, and you will get these wonderful coupons back in return. They typically are common when the products are already on sale. I THINK (and I may be wrong here) that this is one way that they clear out older products to make room for new products (new flavors, new box design, whatever...). They are not limited to just the sale items, however. I once thought I would be thrifty and buy 10 cans of Progresso soup, because there was a deal that, when you purchased 10 cans, you got $10 back. The store had some cans on sale for $1.50, and I had coupons for $1.10 off ONE can, so I thought I'd get 10 cans for $4.00 and get a $10.00 catalina back and thus make $6.00 profit. However, I did not read the fine print of the ad (lesson learned!) and I ended up buying 10 cans that were not on sale. I did receive my $10.00 catalina, however. So catalinas aren't usually limited to sale items.


I consider catalinas as "profit" in most cases. Typically, if I am shopping at a store that prints the catalinas, I am a "returning" customer and those catalinas are just view as "in store credit" to me. Catalinas are good for ANYTHING you want in the store, as long as it's within the guidelines listed on the coupon (ie: no tobacco, alcohol, or other various items, as prohibited by law). I do not consider catalinas as profit when I am shopping at a store that I rarely go into. One example of this is when Kmart was doubling coupons up to $2.00 a few weeks ago. I bought 4 boxes of General Mills cereals, not knowing that I qualified for a $3.00 catalina from General Mills (buy 4 boxes, get $3; buy 5 boxes, get $5). When I got it back with my receipt, I was a little irritated, because I hate shopping at Kmart anyway because 1) they really don't have much selection here, and 2) their prices are already inflated. However, I was lucky that I needed to buy dog food, and Kmart is surprisingly the cheapest place to get a 17.5lb bag of Kibbles & Bits in all of Bremerton (even cheaper than the Commissary!). So, fortunately, that knocked the price down from $10.98 to $7.98, and you can't beat that!


Many people argue that "if you spend money out-of-pocket, you don't have a profit, because they are not handing you money out of their cash register to shop there!" And I did think along the same lines when I first started couponing. Basically, it's a matter of playing the grocery game correct. If you continue to make small purchases that cost basically nothing to get these catalinas, you can end up with almost a hundred dollar's worth, which you can then use on your larger grocery purchase. Although you can not walk into a store and go to the customer service window and say "I'd like to cash in this coupon," you can go through the store to get whatever you want, use the coupon, and either get the item for free, or for pennies.


I think of catalinas as virtual cash. It's a good way for businesses to ensure that their customers come back, and it's a good way for couponers to use sales to their advantage. A lot of couponers will "roll" their catalinas. One week, something may be on sale that offers a catalina back, so the couponer will take advantage of that sale and hold on to their catalinas. Typically, they are good for 2 weeks from the date you get them. If you plan your transactions right, you could possibly go through three sales ads before they expire. If you don't need anything on sale one week, the next week, you might.


Catalinas are basically like paper versions of grocery store gift cards.


My arguement is simple: say you go to WalMart with a coupon for $5.00 off of any pair of jeans. You buy a $10 pair of jeans and use your $5.00 coupon. You're pressed for time, so you don't try them on before you buy them, and you get home and realize that the jeans don't fit and you lost the receipt. You take them back to WalMart and the customer service lady issues you a refund on a WalMart gift card (that's how they issue refunds for no reciepts) for the price of the jeans, which was $10.
NOW: You only paid out-of-pocket $5 for these jeans because of your $5 off coupon. The coupon you used will be paid back to WalMart from the coupon manufacturer. So that $5 coupon that you came in with, that had 1/20 of a cent's value, now gave you a $5 return.
AND: You now have a $10 WalMart gift card for anything you want in the entire store. Have you lost you initial $5 investment that you put in these jeans? No. Because you have the power to get anything in the store that you want that's under $10. You only spent $5 for those jeans. So, you technically have doubled your money.
HAD YOU HAD YOUR RECEIPT, they still would have credited you back $10, because that's how their register would process the information. They are already getting the $5 back from the coupon manufacturer, so to only give you $5 back would actually create a $5 overage in the financial accounting of WalMart. (anyone who's ever been a retail manager would understand what I am saying)


I do coupon for profit. I build my stockpile of cereal for cheap and make a lot more money back in coupons. I can use those coupons to buy other items that will return my profits with more coupons, and eventually, I can get all the groceries I need.


Clearly, couponing for profit takes time and effort and a lot of transactions. I tend to grocery shop at night, when the store is nearly empty. During the day, you can typically slip two transactions through a line without much problem, but at night, the workers at my local store are all around my age (college students, probably) and have nick-named me the Coupon Queen, so therefore usually let me slip through with up to four transactions at a time. Honestly, four transactions at once is all I can handle. I put the little baskets in a big cart, and fill those baskets per transaction.


I don't see a problem with doing so many transactions and getting so much of the "sale" item to get a return "profit" of catalinas, as long as you do it respectfully. Obviously, the shelves will be cleared, BUT, you should leave some for others! I typically do what most of the other bloggers seem to do - I go back multiple times throughout the day and throughout the week. I don't think we should go ONCE, grab all 20 boxes on the shelf, and walk away. A friendly stocker at Albertsons told me that they get shipments on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I suggest finding out from your friendly grocery store workers when they get shipments, so you can figure out the best days to get items. Obviously, if a sale runs Wednesday to Tuesday, the Friday shipment will go quick. So, with Albertsons, I find that I can get the most sale items (leaving items on shelves for others, obviously) on Wednesdays and Mondays. Fridays-Sundays aren't worth going if you're couponing.


From my own experience as a grocery store cashier (MAD LOVE FOR KROGER!), I have to say that I did not pay attention to my transactions on weekends because they were so busy, and I was trying to beat the company clock (they had a certain 'time' that a cashier had to maintain while ringing up orders). As a shopper on the other side, I find that it's very hard to concentrate going out into the store during the middle of the day with the other shoppers, especially on the weekends, because people are trying to get to products, and when you're in the middle of the aisle flipping through your coupons, you're just going to get distracted trying to stay out of everyone's way, and therefore won't make as much return on your groceries.