Comments on: Some Thoughts on Social Savings Inside the Store

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:13:42 +0000

I have done this many a times at the supermarket. I look at the items the person before me has and offer any coupons I have extra or won’t be using if they want them. 100% of the time they have been very grateful for helping to save them money. My mom is also really good on helping others in the drug store game by showing people where to find the items. On the day after Thanksgiving, when one drug store had 20+ free items, she and I and all the other couponers worked together to find all the items the store had available.

By: Tori

Tori — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:27:54 +0000

I am also a “coupon fairy.” In addition to leaving coupons on the shelves underneath the items they apply to, I have even stopped people walking past me with their carts if I knew I had a coupon that they could use that I was not going to use myself. I have been thanked profusely for that & have never received a negative reaction.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:47:54 +0000

The difference between sharing a deal with a stranger in the store and sharing a deal on a deal-sharing blog is that you know for a fact that people on deal-sharing blogs are looking for deals to be shared. You don’t know that about the person standing in the store.

Maybe they already know about the deal at the other store, but they have a reason for wanting to pay the higher price at this store. Maybe the other store doesn’t have the size they want. Maybe it’s not actually the same product. Maybe they have a coupon for this store that you don’t have. Maybe they have some other reason. Or maybe they just really don’t like to have strangers critiquing their shopping habits while they’re minding their own business.

None of this is to say don’t approach them, but do be careful about how you approach them. If a stranger came up to me and told me that I was an idiot and a half to be shopping here, because you can get all the same stuff for five cents cheaper at the big-box-mart ten miles away, I like to think I’d tell him in no uncertain terms where to go.

By: Misha

Misha — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:17:22 +0000

Becky at #12 wrote: “there are even apps that do it, so how is it disrespectful?”

Seriously, what kind of moon logic is that?

By: Katie

Katie — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:46:00 +0000

I can understand wanting to save someone money, but as a retail worker, I definitely don’t appreciate you leaving coupons. Every week, I get to clean up the mess of expired coupons that “helpful” consumers leave that never get used, which tend to expire a day after they are left anyway. >.<

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 02:39:26 +0000

When i was in college, I used to work retail at the children’s section of a department store. I had the same compulsion that Trent’s daughter had to spare a mom from paying too much for an item by telling them to come back to purchase it when it was on sale. I just couldn’t stand to see them pay more than they had to. This may not have seemed to be in the best interests of my employer but those customers were really grateful and seemed to think more of the store as a whole as a result. I considered it good PR.

By: Joan

Joan — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:33:48 +0000

I would very much appreciate hearing about a better price at another store. I do know people who would prefer paying the higher price, and if that is their thing; they can still do so.

By: Charles

Charles — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:48:32 +0000

I can’t stay quiet about this, I think you are taking it too far. How can it possibly be wrong to share information?

Disrespecting the store? How about the store disrespecting you for trying to sell you something for 4 times as much? Are you familiar with the term free market?
And if the person you share this info with values the services that the more expensive store subsidizes by selling at MSRP, then he will buy there nonetheless.

Next you’ll be asking if its rude to recommend a friend doesn’t buy certain brand because you’ve had bad experiences with it, disrespecting the brand and the trust they set upon you by letting you buy one of their products.

Jeez, I really disagree entirely with your post.

By: Christopher Stogdill

Christopher Stogdill — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:46:32 +0000

Telling another customer about a specific deal concerning a particular purchase is fine. Spamming a customer with general information is rude.

I worked retail management for a number of years and I had no problem telling customers if they could get a better deal on a particular item elsewhere. Of course my store did have a price match policy and if I could get the customer to prove the price and item I could then lower my price to match.

Buyer beware though because if an item looks identical it doesn’t mean it is identical. People would try to get me to price match Wal-Mart prices but they didn’t realize that they weren’t comparing the same item. Some stores have manufacturers deliberately make items with cheaper components and take effort to box them up to look like higher-end models.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:45:38 +0000

I think there’s a big difference in going into a store specifically to redirect people elsewhere, and that that’s never OK, but if you’re there and just happen to have information that somebody else would like, I don’t feel like you owe it to the store not to talk to someone. If I thought people shopping in a local store I actually cared about were actually more concerned about price and a price difference of this magnitude were involved, I would say something there too. But then again I also frequently directed customers in the college bookstore where I worked to half.com and don’t feel at all guilty.

By: Non

Non — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:42:41 +0000

Just my two cents about leaving coupons around from someone who used to work retail. Lots of stores actually toss out those coupons as they’re found on the shelves. The reason for this is that after a while, it litters the shelves, floors, etc. I’m all for saving money but just know that there is a good chance that when you leave a coupon, it will be in the trash can no longer than five minutes after you do.

The better practice is to hand them to someone as you see them put the item in their cart.

By: Spamisyummy

Spamisyummy — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:57:04 +0000

We don’t use coupons very often because the items that we buy do not usually have coupons. But when we do clip them and take them with us, and we do not use them, we will leave them for other customers to use. I like paying it forward this way. It’s good karma.

By: Michele

Michele — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:21:30 +0000

I am one of those “coupon fairy” people who leaves them behind, when I have some I’ve decided not to use. Sometimes I’ve handed them to folks while I’m browsing in the area (i.e. vitamins), and tell them If You Don’t Use It, Leave It For Someone Else. I’m not sure how the stores feel about it? I’ve also found some on shelves and appreciated being able to use them, a nice little surprise!

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:59:12 +0000

My husband was in a store offering two-for-one on certain designer suits, hooked up with another guy in the store and they split the purchase. This was a massive chain – no guilt felt at all.

By: MemeGRL

MemeGRL — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:12:47 +0000

Interesting, Google doesn’t list it that way for me. Still uses the tagline.
I always cut diaper coupons to leave in the store because that expense is fresh in my mind, and same with coupons that are about to expire that I won’t use.
As to the particular case of the shoes–with a family that size, I would definitely let them know. And for all you know, they tried the other shoes and didn’t like the fit and came back for the first pair. You didn’t block them from making that purchase, just gave them another option.

By: RJ

RJ — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:33:34 +0000

I’ve used those “left behind” coupons on multiple occasions. Let me just say thank you!

By: Kai

Kai — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:53:36 +0000

I think this is a great article raising questions about different ways to do things and the values inherent in each, while being different from what we’ve seen lately. I don’t mind if it is name-dropping coupons when it’s well done.
I do question Trent’s personal decision on the matter, but that’s separate from the article’s value.

By: Kai

Kai — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:47:06 +0000

I think a free market can take advertising for the competition within a store. Many stores offer price-matching for just that.
I certainly don’t see any reason that a store should automatically get your money just because they got you in the door by keeping you ignorant. And I really don’t see any reason that shoppers should be complicit in it.

By: Tizzle

Tizzle — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:12:01 +0000

I learned to do this “paying forward” by coming across a pre-paid parking sticker (had about 30 min left) on the meter. I have used this concept with tickets on the light rail..I would buy for the same price a ticket further than my destination and leave it for someone else. Why not?

If that store owner heard Sarah doing that, s/he could have kicked y’all out, with justification and within their rights. But telling a mother with 4 kids? Yeah, I would do it too. I would probably also lean toward sharing coupons/advice with someone who looks like a) they need it and b) are nice enough to talk to. How would I determine that? No idea and it’s arguably problematic.

By: becky

becky — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:24:05 +0000

In the couponing world, they refer to it as a coupon fairy! I do it, too! And I ‘d share the fi ds…there are even apps that do it, so how is it disrespectful?