Extreme couponing - Why don't we have this in the UK?

Not sure if this thread goes here, feel free to move this thread to where it should go.

I been watching a show on youtube called extreme couponing. It's an American reality tv show.

What happens, is that people save up there coupons and can save over 90% of there total purchase. I watched an episode where a person total purchase cost $1902.63 in a supermarket and with coupons, they paid $103.72.

I live in London, and whenever I see supermarket coupons, it ain't worth alot. You rarely get a coupon where you can get a product for free. However, in this reality tv show, people get a coupon worth the total price of the products they purchase.

I assume this reality tv show is real, and it shows people in America and Canada collecting coupons and using them in supermarkets.

Now, for those who think it's sad to use coupons. I don't see a problem with it, and would proberly collect coupons myself to get money off products. However, there is hardly any coupons I get get for supermarkets. I shop at nearly all supermarkets, Icelands, Sainsburys, Tesco, Waitrose, Asda etc. and the only place I get coupons is Sainsburys, they give you 1 pound in rewards for every 100 pound spent, which is hardly great. The coupons are worth very little and sometimes I don't get any coupons at all.

So, I was wondering why don't the UK offer coupons like the Americans and Canadians do? Quality food and drink in supermarkets is really expensive in the UK and I wished I could get them for free.

Reply 1

Fusion

Normally each coupon states 'not to be used in conjunction with other offers'

Reply 2

thegodofgod

Original post by GuyUK

- I've heard of this before - my dad told me about a woman who didn't have a job; she used the saved money off coupons to pay for rent, etc.

My parents shop at Sainsbury's and they also have a Nectar card - they receive Nectar points when they shop at Sainsbury's, I think 2 points per every £1 spent. Along with these points, they get coupons too at the till, e.g. the latest one they got was 3000 bonus Nectar points if they spend £75 or more on their first online grocery shop - they didn't listen to me; they didn't use that coupon :sad:

Reply 3

twelvepenguinbugs

I've watched this show too and sometimes it's ridiculous - people walk out with trolleys full of food and the supermarket gives them like $50 cash back since the coupons put their shop into minus numbers.

It's probably something to do with companies endorsing supermarkets in the US and subsidising the offers, something we maybe can't afford to do here. No idea how it works though.

Reply 4

zaliack

Our coupons aren't ridiculous, they are usually '1 coupon per transaction' or something and only offer 50% off an item etc.

Reply 5

lukas1051

I don't know how generous they are in the US compared to the UK, but I think it's all about playing the game, exploiting the loopholes etc. Maybe it is possible to do in the UK, maybe there are people who do it, I don't know, but if you're smart you can save money on pretty much anything.

Reply 6

PinkMobilePhone

Volunteer Team

It's not possible to do it in the UK. Our coupons are too restrictive.

I use coupons wherever and whenever I can - if I'm going somewhere (theme park, cinema, restaurant etc) I always scour the net to see the cheapest way I can do it (voucher codes/coupons etc), and I collect things like nectar points (which I use at the cinema to get money off), tesco clubcard points and so on....

but even so, it's nothing like the extreme couponing in the states. I wish it was possible to do it the way they do, I'd be the first to give it a go, but sadly it's not; not to that extent.

Reply 7

Clare~Bear

My mum collectes loads of coupons but dad won't sue them. My dad does most the shopping but if we actually want him to bring back things we need I have to go with him, this also lets me give the coupons in for money off.

Reply 8

Herr

I generally don't do coupons, unless it is something to do with fuel :tongue:

Usually if I do collect the coupons I end up forgetting to bring them along.

The other issue is many of these coupons tend to come together as part of junk-mail, I usually throw those junk mail straight into the recycling bin without even looking at it.

Original post by twelvepenguinbugs

An American supermarket generally loses no money at all if things are given away through a coupon.

The way a supermarket or grocery store works in USA is the company that is wholesalers to the goods will rent shelf spaces to place their goods at those shelves. To a certain extent even UK supermarkets have this practice where if a manufacturer wants its products at eye level or just below it they would need to fork out a premium on rents to have their products there. Hence even the goods is sold at no profit the supermarket already has made a profit of some kind.

The other issue, vast majority of supermarkets work on a consignment basis, hence goods are provided to the supermarket who then stocks those shelves and if the product sells they get a small percentage of it as profit, the supermarket as a whole rarely ever pays anything upfront for those goods. The only part of it is they could play with the pricing to take in a smaller margin if they so choose to. Hence coupon sales rarely ever hurt the profitability of a supermarket.

Reply 9

TheWorldEndsWithMe

I was just thinking about this- there were new episodes and a woman had $2100 (or thereabouts) worth of stuff and only had to pay the tex because everything she got was free.

The way they seem to do it is hoard the coupons and then wait for another offer to come on- eg a buy one get one free offer making, say, an item $2 for two, and then have a dollar off voucher for each item - they can use the two 'dollar off' coupons to get it for free.
Ours don't allow that. It's usually 'not to be used with any other offer' or only one per transaction or it's only 50p off an £3 item.

There was a show a little like it for the UK though- cant for the life of me remember what it was called or what channel it was on - and it basically involved these families trying to do similar things to the US show. One woman wrote off to her favourite companies and just told them how much she liked them and stuff and they sent her a voucher for a free block of cheese (although it was a small one). And one had the habit of complaining about something fairly trivial to the company only to be sent a replacement item - got it free.

Reply 10

margauxlim

TLC may have unleashed a monster with its “Extreme Couponing” television show, documenting people who use coupons to realize massive savings. However, stores are catching on and changing policy to restrict extreme coupon use. Couponing clipping can be fun and exciting. But you know we also have to be aware of those legit and not. Coupon fraud is everywhere. We cannot deny how couponing save some bucks of money.