Keep sending in those questions – we love to answer them! Just remember if we didn’t get to your question this week…we will do our best to cover it another week!! As always a big thanks to my buddy Christy over at Haphazardly Hobbying who gives me so much help to get the questions answered.
Remember–there is a tab at the top of the site called “Q & A” where I organize the questions and answers from this feature so that it can serve as a quick reference!
Here are this week’s questions:
- Can you use 2 Publix coupons (with different LU#s) and a manufacturer’s coupon on a single item?
- Where can I find $5/$50 coupons?
- Why does Publix always seem to mark its clearance items down to 2/$X?
- What do you freeze?
- Can I get a raincheck on items or coupons in the Advantage Buy Flyer?
- Why have so many coupons had ‘limits’ on them recently, and why?
- How far in advance can we find out how many inserts will be in each week’s paper?
- Do you think Publix will ever ‘go mobile’ with their coupons?
- How do you keep your momentum going at this time of year?
- What’s the best total you ever had at the grocery store?
And here are the answers!
- Debbie wants to know: Can you use 2 Publix coupons (with different LU#s) and a manufacturer’s coupon on a single item?
- Mary Ann wants to know: Where can I find $5/$50 or other $X/$XX coupons? I never get them in my flyer.
Rebecca wants to know: We never seem to get $X/$XX coupons in Northwest Florida where I live. My store takes quite a few competitors, but I don’t seem to have any success finding or getting coupons from other stores either. What’s the best way to find these? - Pam wants to know: Why does Publix always seem to mark its clearance items down to 2/$X?
- Maggie wants to know: I’m curious as to what you freeze. I’m fairly new at this and would love to know what is safe to freeze so I can stockpile more!
- Angela wants to know: Can I get a raincheck for items advertised in the Advantage Buy Flyer? What about the Advantage Buy Coupons?
- Lynn wants to know: A lot of the P&G coupons have had ‘limits’ printed on them recently – “Limit 4 coupons per transaction,” etc. How strictly is that enforced, and why do they do that?
- Cathy wants to know: How far in advance can we find out how many inserts will be in each week’s paper?
- Maria wants to know: I want to make the best use of my smartphone to be more efficient and save money. I’m very interested in going “paperless” with my couponing. Do you think Publix will ever ‘go mobile’ with their coupons – that we will be able to load coupons to our phone or a card rather than bring them to the store?
- Susan wants to know: There is so much to do around the holidays that it’s hard to find time to plan and shop the way I usually do. How do you keep your momentum going at this time of year?
- Missy wants to know: I know you’re a super-saver and I’m always amazed by your weekly totals. My question is: what’s the best total you ever had at the grocery store?
Christy: I know that there are at least a few stores that allow shoppers to stack one manufacturer’s coupon, one Publix coupon, and one competitor coupon on a single item, but my experience has always been that you can only use one Publix coupon OR one competitor’s coupon per single item – and you certainly can’t stack more than one Publix coupon, regardless of the LU#, on a single item. As always, though, you should check with your store so that you’re clear on their particular policy regarding Publix and competitor coupons.
Michelle: Christy is right on here. You can only use one manufacturer’s coupon and one store coupon per item.
Christy: These questions go so well together that we figured we’d answer them both at once! You have a few options for finding $X/$XX coupons, regardless if they are from Publix or from a store Publix might consider a competitor. First, make sure you watch this and other coupons/deals blogs – most often I only find $X/$XX coupons after I hear about it on a blog! (Most recently my I read that there were $5/$30 peelies in my local paper, and you better believe I stocked up on papers that day!) Another option is to keep active on the forum and watch for posts where people have $X/$XX coupons to trade. (These ALWAYS go quickly, so you have to jump right on it!) Finally, you might want to search eBay periodically – there are often people that are selling $X/$XX coupons. If the price is right, I think these types of coupons are the best kind to purchase because you know you will always use them – just keep an eye on those expiration dates and make sure you only buy as many as you will use before they expire.
Michelle: They are rare but they do exist. I know they are often up for trade over in the I Heart Publix Forum. Trading is the easiest way to get these coupons. My store only accepts Publix $X/$XX coupons which means I am even more limited. So, I grab these whenever I can!! If you can find a couple of trading buddies that is sometimes the easiest way to get these rare babies!!
Christy: I don’t know for sure, but I would assume that Publix does this because it is a way of subliminally suggesting that you should buy 2 of the item instead of just 1 – and that way they get rid of their inventory quicker! Of course, as we’ve covered before, how many clearance items you purchase is up to you – if it is marked 2/$1, you need only purchase 1 to get the sale price.
Michelle: You know I noticed that too. I think Christy is right. People follow directions. If they see 2/$1 they are probably more likely to grab two thinking it is required to get the sale price. We all know better 😉
Christy: We answered this question before but it is a good one to bring up again from time to time. You can find our previous answers HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. The best “essential” items I freeze are meat, bread, milk, cheese, egg beaters (or similar), and juice – all of which freeze well for up to 6 months.
Christy: As with everything, this depends on your store. I have had customer service reps at my store tell me that they “usually don’t” raincheck for Advantage Buy items, but they always end up giving one to me if I ask!
Because so many of the Advantage Buy COUPON items usually don’t have an advertised price associated with them, and because the coupons generally expire when the flyer does, you may have a harder time getting your store to agree to ‘raincheck’ your use of the coupon. Talk to your manager about this and see what he or she can do for you.
Michelle: We have all found that often the “hot” items will be gone the first week. Each store will vary on their policy. While a store may allow you to get the sale price advertised in the flyer, they may not allow the coupon to be used once it expired. Typically we all know what will be the good deals, you might consider making your grocery manager aware of the deal so that if possible more products can be ordered. Often orders are automatic based on the computer…so it might help to have a human involved.
Christy: Let me start with the “why” first. I would assume that product manufacturers include limits like that on their coupons to try to limit shelf-clearing shoppers, which in turn will lower the amount they actually have to pay out to stores in reimbursements for the coupons. If anyone else has another take or more information about this, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
How strictly coupon limits are enforced at the store level depends on the store employees themselves – if they’re paying attention, they should enforce the limit. If they don’t, though, I don’t know that there would be any way for the clearinghouse to enforce the limit – so if your store accepts 20 coupons in a single transaction there is probably not any danger that they wouldn’t be reimbursed for all of them. Personally, I think that it’s my responsibility as an ethical couponer to stick to the limits on a coupon, but that is a personal call that you will all have to make.
Michelle: I am not sure why they have chosen to add this wording…I think Christy’s reasoning makes sense.
We need to be responsible for how we use coupons. I think it is important that we follow the rules to ensure that stores remain coupon friendly! There is no way a cashier will have time to read each coupon and then go back and check every item, count your items, match coupons to items, etc…the responsibility falls to us to make sure that we are using coupons correctly. Saying “the cashier let me so it must be OK” is just not a valid response–it is an unfair expectation to place on that cashier. In my opinion that is just a means of justifying what you know was wrong. As always, you will have to do what feels right to you! If you are ever unsure, just ask your store.
Good timing on this question! The 2011 coupon insert schedule is out and you can find it HERE. Keep in mind that the list does occasionally change!
Christy: In some ways, I would love it if Publix would roll out an electronic coupon program – I’d love to be able to carry fewer coupons to the store! However, I’m not sure if an electronic coupon program would be as great as I’d want it to be. For example, Kroger’s electronic coupon program only allows you to use each coupon one time. Like most couponers in true BOGO land, I buy almost everything in multiples of two, so if Publix came out with a similar program it would be a bummer!
Michelle: I would love for Publix to add a paperless option like Cellfire or Shortcuts! This would be great as an addition, but like Christy, I would not want it to take the place of the paper coupons. Right now these types of coupon require a loyalty card so I am not sure if Publix has that in the works…but I think it would be great!
Christy: To be honest, I’ve found that I’ve shopped a LOT less this holiday season – with so many things going on deal-seeking gets pushed lower on the priority list – so I’m not the best one to talk about momentum! I’m hoping to get back in the groove as soon as the holidays are over.
Michelle: Couponing has become such a way of life for me that I really don’t know another way to shop. Since I generally know what I need, I usually try to get the extras things as they are on sale during the months leading up to the holidays. Keeping my pantry, refrigerator and freezer stocked means that I don’t really have to change my habits too much. This makes the craziness of the holidays a little easier to handle!!
Christy: This one is easy for me – I actually had a negative total a few months ago! I had planned to buy a few things that would have absorbed my overage but they were out of stock so I had to wing it at the store – and they actually paid me to leave! I even asked the customer service manager if they were SURE they wanted to ‘reimburse’ me because I would have been just fine leaving with a $0 balance, but he assured me that it was fine and I walked out with my items and 31¢ in my pocket! I blogged about it HERE.
Michelle: I am not sure exactly when it was but I remember getting almost $500 worth of groceries for under $10 out of pocket…that was a good week 😀
I hope our answers to these questions were helpful! Make sure you ‘tune in’ next week for even more Q&A with I Heart Publix.
Our question stockpile is just about empty, and we need you to help us fill it up again! If you have a question, please send it in. We happily welcome questions from new couponers or old hands alike – and if there’s a question you know the answer to but we haven’t talked about here, send that in too! We want to try to cover just about any question that a couponer could have about anything related to Publix or couponing, and we just know there’s a lot more out there to discuss! Email your questions to contactiheartpublix @ gmail.com.
I have a lot of RP and SS “packs” of coupons, as I am sure most of you do. For example, I have packs dating back to March / April. How do you know when it’s time to throw them away? Is there an easier way than going through each page and looking at expiration dates?
Thanks so much for your help!
One thing you could do is when you get your coupons each week, flip through the inserts and find the coupon with the latest expiration date, then write this on the front of the insert or on a sticky note: expires 12/31 Then when that date comes, you’ll know you can toss the whole thing. Now, sometimes, the last to expire coupons are things I’d never buy and might expire 2 months later than all the others (I don’t want to hang on to the inserts for coupons I’d never use) so, in this case, I just write the date of the latest expiring coupon of the ones I would use. I hope this helps you or someone else.
“There is no way a cashier will have time to read each coupon and then go back and check every item, count your items, match coupons to items, etc”
Sadly, there’s one Publix near me where every cashier seems to be trained to do just that. And it does waste everyone’s time and energy, but they do it. That’s why I drive a bit further to another Publix that’s more coupon friendly. 😉 (I’ve complained to the store about it and gotten an apology, but the “take each coupon, stare at the front and back, then the front, then the back, then look in the bags, then look at the coupon again, then give me a stare, then look again” policy seems to be upheld.)
In response to question #4…butter/margarine freezes very well. This is something I stockpile! 🙂
In response to #8- if they ADD a paperless option, that’s fine, but going totally paperless would be very bad. I do not have a smartphone, nor do I intend on getting one. I would have to find somewhere else to shop.
We got a TON of $/$$ coupons from a local coupon book that was being sold through one of the schools. It had several pages of grocery store coupons like this, as well as many great restaurant coupons. Next year, we’ll be buying a few of these books, as they have been so worth it.
if it was the entertainment book they go on really good clerance during the summer and you can get 2 for like $10.00.