Coupon Clipping Your Way To The American Dream
Her grocery list was handwritten on adding machine paper fed through a wall mounted hanger. She had studied the weekly ads in the newspaper and knew what to do.
At the summer family place in Wacouta, Catherine’s grandmother, Frances Friedrich, loaded up anywhere from two to six grandkids into the Chevy wagon to head to town for the weekly grocery shopping. They would usually stop at Eames Meat Market and Sundberg’s Grocery in downtown Red Wing, then maybe Watson’s Grocery on 12th St. On the way back to Wacouta their final stop was Paton’s Grocery on East Seventh St. where the kids each got an orange Push-Up.
By that time, the kids would have earned their treats. Their jobs were simple and they shared duties. A couple would go into one of the stores and each buy the limit of a specific sale item, such as two pounds of butter. This was repeated as necessary at each store with limits on sale items. Also, if canned beans were on sale for a few cents less at Sundberg’s, that’s where they were bought, even if that was the only item to buy there.
In many countries, customers haggle over price. That’s done here on some things (cars, for example, although that’s changing), but it isn’t as common. In one of my many previous jobs, one of the business owners was complaining about customers who continuously asked for discounts, essentially haggling. He called them “coupon clippers.” I instantly knew what he meant. Overall, though, I think Americans would rather know what the final price is up front and take it or leave it. Serious haggling takes time and is a skill excluded from the DNA of most of us Scandinavians around here.
Instead of haggling, Americans seem willing to jump through hoops to get the best price. For many, the path to the American dream is a road littered with sales, discounts, coupons, rebates, and tax avoidance. Saving a few cents here and there has always been considered commendable even if inflation has moved the numbers up. You may not need canned tuna or even like it, but if it’s on sale, you buy the limit.
How often do you see an item listed at full price and after discounts and the dreaded mail-in rebate, it’s free? I once bought five quarts of oil that included a mail-in rebate which required you to include the oily seals under each cap. What a mess. The UPC symbol from the box a product came in was also required.
Remember driving clear across town to save a couple cents per gallon on gas? More likely today you use coupons for gas discounts. Or maybe you have a credit card that offers gas discounts. Annoying to me are the cards that change the discounts every few months, from restaurants to gas to grocery stores. You have to sign up for them, too, which is silly. How do you keep track of them? If it’s June, use the Visa card for groceries and the Discover card at restaurants.
Saving money is a constant game for some people, and requires a lot of time. If you search long enough, there’s a coupon waiting for you. You can find loads of deals and printable coupons at sites like Crazy Coupon Lady and Groupon, whose website is chock full of deals. GoodRX can be great for discounts on expensive prescriptions, although it seems shameful that in America it should be necessary for many people to need to use coupons to remain alive.
Then there are the discount cards you can buy in a fundraiser, such as for local sports teams or cheerleaders. They can be a good deal if you remember to use them. There are BOGO sales (buy one, get one free) which is 50% off except you can’t just buy one for half price. Black Friday and other discount days like Crazy Days are almost religious holidays. Even days of the week (senior discount Wed.) are popular.
You need to watch expiration dates and limits. Sometimes there are requirements. You may save 11% at Menards, but you need to send in the completed form and receipts. The rebate card you receive can only be spent at a Menards. Ace Hardware mails out reward cards, but you might have to spend $25 to save $5.
We’ve all been in checkout lines where the shopper in front of you is maximizing their purchasing power with any combination of coupons, a gift card, a rebate, reward card, and one of those sports team discount cards. And they use a cash back credit card to pay for it. Imagine if they haggled for each item.
When Joe Garagiola, representing Chrysler, told America to “buy a car, get a check,” we migrated to bigger rebates. Later, car rebates were simply applied when you bought the car. Duh. Well, why not just lower the price and skip the rebates, coupons, and reward discounts? Because people think they’re getting a better deal if they get a rebate.
After Minnesota started collecting a 3% sales tax in 1967, a trip to Dairy Queen with Grandma Friedrich meant that each grandkid would be given the exact amount to buy one chocolate dipped cone, thereby never reaching the threshold of having to pay any tax.
Such satisfaction.