My Experience Reviewed

As promised, I am going to try to describe my experience the first time I tried using Internet downloaded coupons at the store. 
 

I chose to use the coupons at the Stop & Shop, since they are one of the stores that participates in the YourBucks Savings offers from Coupon Network.  By the way, the coupons say Super Stop & Shop, but I don’t think the store I went to in Monroe is a “Super” store – the coupons worked anyway. 

There is a nice summary on the bottom of the receipt that breaks down the savings you get and where the savings were from.  My total was $162.00 before savings and after deducting my $27.17 savings, my total was $136.35.  Not too bad, but I could have done much better with more planning.  

The savings were $15.77 (for 13 items) from using my Stop & Shop savings card and purchasing things that were advertised in the store that were on special that day.  This is something I look out for all the time in the store, so I guess I am not a true beginner.  In fact, according to the receipt, I have a year-to-date savings of $56.98.   $29.18 of that savings was from the shopping I did between January and now and the total doubled with that day’s savings, so I did see an improvement without much effort! 

$3.00 was from what they called “Personal Thanks Savings 2.”  I looked this program up on their website and was not able to determine where that particular savings came from.  The summary goes on to say that $.40 of my savings was from doubling coupons (which I did not know that Stop & Shop did) bringing the savings on my S&S card to $19.17.  The rest of the savings of $8.00 was from manufacturer’s coupons, which the receipt informs me that I used 5 total. 

When I went to their website, I found that I should register my card online by creating a Stop & Shop account.  I have had the S&S card for at least 8 years, but I have never registered it online.  I also clicked on “Stop & Shop Card Account” and “updated” my account which automatically entered me in a sweepstakes to win FREE groceries for a year. 

At the bottom of the receipt are listed the store “rewards.”  The first one is called the 5% program for which I earned 135 points from this shopping trip.  I got a coupon at the register for 5% savings off a future order, which may be from this 5% program, but that coupon also expires in two weeks.  The fine print on the coupon says that the 5% is calculated “after discounts and coupons.”   The other rewards programs listed were for Frozen Food Month and a Sandwich Program.  They added a note that the Deli Sandwich program is ending on 3/24/12 – “please redeem your coupon for free Deli Sandwich on or before” that date.  Online, I looked up for more information about these reward plans.  The Frozen Food month promotion is that you receive a 10% checkout coupon when you spend $75 on frozen foods from 2/24 through 3/22.  I couldn’t find any information about the Sandwich Program on the website.  

What is not listed on the receipt are the YourBucks offers that printed out after I was done paying.  They were printed with the purchase targeted offers that come out normally after a shopping trip.   The YourBucks savings are for savings on your next trip.  They expire fairly soon – within 2 weeks of purchase – and they are only for a deduction from your total so you would need to purchase at least that much on your next trip.  I received $2.00 from Kraft, $1.00 from General Mills and $.50 from Dole.  I just have to remember to have them with me and I have to go back to S&S within the two week period.  

The S&S website includes savings like printable coupons and a copy of the weekly circular, information about promotions (including one to support your local school and one to get discounts on Shell gasoline), meal planning and healthy living tips, and a BETA test of a shopping list program.  Each time you use this shopping list, you are entered into a contest to win one month ($600) in free groceries. 

As predicted, I am starting to get email in the account I opened for coupon gathering, but it is not all junk mail.  As Kathy says about flyers and circulars, the ones you get sent to you have additional discounts over and above what you can get in a newspaper or from the store itself.  I was happy about the meager savings I got, but I am not so sure I will be able to find the time to do the additional planning that would be required to do better.  There are a lot of offers available – I suspect that you should select one or two methods (sites) that work easily for you as you get started and then add additional steps as you have the mind to do this! 

Good luck to you all.  Keep visiting this blog for more discoveries and please, feel free to add your ideas.  I have invited you all to be contributing authors on the page so you can post your own information if you wish.