Coupon Basics

Coupons are great ways to save on all items from food in your grocery story to discounts for online shopping. But, knowing a few basics about coupon use can help.

First, do not just look for coupons in your local newspapers. Coupons are available many other places. You can find manufacturers coupons, especially for first-time buying, and usually on larger ticket items. There are also retail coupons that may be direct mailed or may come to you because you are a member of a store chain. For example, Borders has member coupons for in-store discounts.

There are also online coupons. On line coupon are becoming more popular and are also convenient. But, there are some words of caution. Some stores will not accept printed coupons from a website. Because printed coupons have bar codes an expiration dates, there really is no legitimate reason for this refusal except that early online coupons could be counterfeited which soured stores. Times have changed, so if you are not allowed to use an online coupon, go to the service counter or ask to speak to a manager. Another precaution is to contact the corporate headquarters of the store where you plan to shop and get their policy for accepting online coupons sent you so you can present it at the cash register. It is also a good idea not to cut out a printed coupon but to take the whole page it’s printed on so the store manager can see the website source.

Finally, be sure to read your coupon carefully and know its restrictions. There is shorthand for terms, and you can become familiar with those online. OAS means the coupon is good for any one size of the product—a nice deal. NED means no expiration date—also nice, and UNL means unlimited in number.

Tip! Be sure you check out PennyPinchingHints.com’s Coupon Tool Bar at the top of every page of our site. Simply click on “See All Coupons” to see all of the coupons listed in a list. Then click on the ones you want, and print them out! Make sure you bookmark our site so that you can come back on a regular basis to get more! The coupons are updated on a frequent basis.

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