I broke a personal rule of mine today and went to HEB on a Sunday after church let out (I can't stand shopping with those kinds of crowds in the store, but my SO offered to make homemade spaghetti sauce if I went to go pick up tomato paste and minced garlic!) And while I was there, I witnessed possibly the most extreme case of shelf-clearing I have ever personally seen.
A older couple in their late 50s or early 60s was purchasing ALL the newspapers at my HEB, then going through and sifting out the coupon inserts. They must have had at least 40 newspapers in their shopping carts when I saw them, and they were using an empty register lane to remove all the coupon inserts for each paper.
Now, as even casual readers know, I'm a big fan of stockpiling, but even I think buying 40 copies of one paper is a little extreme. (I assume the couple was actually buying the papers, since the checkout manager was aware of the situation and didn't seem bothered.)
And if for some reason you do really need that many copies of a coupon insert for personal use, I think there are probably better ways to get them than clearing out an entire store's supply. I always recommend using a clipping service, or even hitting up one of the independent contractors who sell papers on the side of the road. I'm sure they'd be happy to close up shop early and get out of the heat!
Plus, I saw the husband in the couple get quite aggressive with other shoppers who were trying to purchase one paper before he unloaded them all into his cart. That's bad karma right there.
What would you have said or done in this situation? Have you ever purchased more than, say, 10 copies of a paper at any one time? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter and if this would weird you out too, or if you think it's all part of the coupon game.
Share your thoughts in the comments section below, or over at the San Antonio Budget Grocery Facebook page!
Wow. I have never seen that done before. I would not have reacted nicely had the older gentleman got snippy w/me while I tried getting a paper.
ReplyDeleteYour idea of helping out the guy/gal out there in the heat selling papers is a better way to do it, if you plan to hoard them all.
Lucky for us, we get the paper delivered to us. This week there are a lot of coupon inserts.
I know I'm not nearly as coupon savvy as you but can that really be that cost effective? Maybe I'm just not a good enough stockpiler. And agreed... Not exactly the classy way to accomplish the goal. Cleaning out a shelf or otherwise, there is never an excuse to be disrespectful. Money matters always seem to bring out the dark side of people.
ReplyDeletePS How was the spaghetti sauce? Reading about homemade spaghetti sauce made me salivate!
Ridiculous! Yet another reason why couponing rules are so different now. I've been using them for decades and people like this are making saving money harder for everyone. Most I've ever purchased is 2 papers. I usually buy them on Sat night (with no front page) because my local Stop and Shop is sold out by 9. Maybe the same couple travels here to the East Coast? :)
ReplyDeleteWe regularly purchase two papers on Sunday, because if you buy them here after church, they come bundled together...the morning and the noon edition. I think it costs and extra .75 cents.
ReplyDeleteSince I started eating healthy and watching cholesterol and sodium though, I only use coupons for household supplies, etc. The majority of coupons are for prepackaged items which are high in sodium and fat. Fat-free is not an option, as it has double the sodium. For those of us who shop the perimeter of the store, there are not a lot of coupons, although I do manage to use the ones for yogurt and for ICBINB....anyway, for what I do manage to save, buying 40 Sunday papers would cost me much more than I would save.
WOW That is ridiculous...now I am curious if this is the notorious older couple that Target is so weary of. I am a vendor and visit different Targets and I have heard of an older lady and well as an older man who buy bags and bags of items with coupons and then return them all so they get the full retail amount back in cash. There are other unethical things that I heard of them doing but I can't remember the full details right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for saving money, but this is not only excessive, but extreme. I hoped they factored in the cost of the newspapers to their expense. Doing this every week will certainly add up; not to mention, annoy the rest of the shoppers that go to that store specifically to get the paper. Also, aren't there limits on those coupons? One couple can't possibly use that many of one item to make it worthwhile. Has anyone seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC? Sounds like they'd fit right in.
ReplyDeleteThat is so funny that you saw that. I live in Fort worth and Saturday I went to buy my papers(3) at dollar tree and sold out. I went to 2 different ones and the cashier told me people were buying 20-40 papers at a time. I told her that nobody really needs that many papers. I was pretty irritated and when I got home I sent an email to dollar tree about what happen.
ReplyDeleteI think it is cheaper just to get them from a clipping service. That way I only get the ones I really want. That was way rude of them to do that.
ReplyDelete