This has been bugging me for a long time now. It’s a mild rant, doesn’t run very deep ~ but I get SO mad!!! :mad:
I’m not much of a coupon-clipper. I’ve seen friends save all kinds of money with coupons, but I’ve just never had the “follow-though”, needed for such a technique. If I end up clipping the coupons, they remain clipped onto the side of my fridge with a magnet. If they get to my wallet, they tend to migrate to the back of my wallet, behind the money, receipts, and losing lottery tickets. I could do better. I should do better.
I pit the SAVE NOW coupons stuck onto various merchandise! Here I am, strolling down the aisles, comparison shopping. I’m doing my best to be a responsible consumer. And there it is, right in front of my face: TWIN sweetener (for example) for $2.47. Generic version of the same, $2.17. BUT!!! The Twin has a “SAVE ¢50 NOW” coupon sticker, that is meant to be used at the time of purchase. Therefore, I’m better off taking the Twin, not the generic. And I do.
As sure as the day is long, I get home with bags full of groceries, only to find at least 2 or 3 items with the stickers still on them. I forgot to peel them off at the cash. I once tried to come back to the courtesy counter, with my bill and the sticker, for a refund. I felt like a dumb ass doing so, and didn’t get very far. The coupon had to be presented at the time of purchase, kind of understandable as I figure some people would go into the store and steal the coupons off the merchandise and try to get a refund on previously purchased items. I figure that my time is worth more than spending 15 minutes arguing for ¢50.
I’ve contemplated for a while ~ WHO is to blame for this repeated situation:
~ the company who puts the sticker on, knowing that it will get their item bought because of the possible price, and knowing that alot of these coupons never get redeemed
~ the cashier who sees these items day after day and knows there are coupons on them from previous customers’ redemptions
~ ME for biting every single time and not having the mental presence to remember to collect the coupons when unloading my basket
The answer is clear. I am the one to blame. But deep down inside, I blame the lifeless inanimate object called the SAVE NOW coupon.