Are coupons users really saving money, or are they just subjecting themselves to a clever marketing scheme? I wonder is there are any legitimate studies on this. When I ask people this question, they defend their coupon use with religious fervor. It makes me wonder if the same manufacturers that provide coupons, and who invest allot of money in marketing and selling their products to increase profits, are really changing the coupon clippers buying habits. Of course the coupon clippers do not realize this, as they get a great deal of emotional satisfaction at the register, when in reality they are being manipulated. This is my hunch. Your answer appreciated
Simon K2012-03-13T12:23:37Z
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I've seen a lot of stupid couponing, especially the buying of processed foods nobody needs. I don't use many coupons for food. Pastas and sauce coupons combined with a buy one get one free sale often net me free pasta and tomato sauce. I usually only pay $1.25 for a box of $5 cereal by using a coupon with a sale. But, I see no point in getting soda products on sale. You know what's cheaper than discounted Pepsi? Not drinking the stuff at all. Nobody needs to consume that.
I haven't had to pay more than about 4 cents for a tube of toothpaste, plus the tax on the original purchase price. So, maybe 16 cents including tax for a namebrand tube of toothpaste. I usually pay about .50 cents including tax for deoderant which is usually priced at $4 a stick. Shaving cream usually works out to free. I usually pay less for toilet paper than you can get it in bulk from a membership club only without the annual membership fees.
Every once in awhile I do use a coupon to buy a product I wouldn't have usually purchased which I imagine is the intent of coupons. Also, coupons usually come out for a product the week the item is at it's highest price. People tend to use coupons the weekend they receive them, which means they aren't getting any kind of discount over a normal sale price. But, if you save them to combine with a sale and only buy items you actually use, then yes you can save money.
You could say that those not using a coupon are subsidizing those that due because the true price would likely be somewhere in between the two prices paid.
Manufacturers and resellers are shooting for a certain profit. They know a certain number of people will buy at full price, certain other ones will buy only with coupons, and still more are somewhere in between. If coupons never existed then prices could, and likely would, be lower. A good case study for this is to compare Safeway pricing, which gives Safeway Club prices (aka automatic coupons), to grocers which don't do this. Their prices are typically consistently lower. Both stores are getting the average price for the items that they are targeting.
On top of this, coupons are a method for manufactures and retailers to encourage individuals to try new and different items in the hope that they will continue buying them at non-discounted prices in the future. The reality is, however, that prices are going to vary. The biggest way to get the lowest price for an item is to use a coupon or discount program. If everyone in the world stopped using coupons then prices likely would come down a bit, but that's not reality.
Yes, they save money on a product, if the buyer normally uses that product, or would like to try it. But if a buyer usually buys a lower priced item, then the discount would have to lower the price below the level of the lower priced item. However, there is the case that the higher priced product may be superior quality, so the coupon may bring the price down close to lesser quality item, in which case buyer may choose, for a few cents more, to upgrade.
I've tried multiple times to become religious about using coupons with grocery shopping. The problem is that I buy generic products and the coupons are only for brand names. Even with the coupons, the brand names are still more expensive than generic.
Now, for restaurants, coupons are worth every penny, that is, if you like going to that restaurant to begin with.
Only if the person would buy that exact product anyway. So many friends of mine use that stupid Groupon site and rave about how they got 25% off a chocolate factory tour, or 20 off a manicure, but they never wanted these things to begin with! So they spent more money than they would have if they mever even went to the site!