Time for another of my (in)famous vents. Yesterday was April Fool’s Day, only the joke was on me. Last weekend, many of us found coupons good for $3 off three tubes of Crest toothpaste. As some MHOTC readers know, I often shop for local charities who need personal care products and non-perishable food. Safeway had the Crest toothpaste on sale for 99¢. Unfortunately, by the time I hit the stores on Sunday, there was no more Crest.
Okay, I get it, everyone wanted to get in on the deal. Stores restock their shelves every few days. Knowing this, I asked one of the managers at the Safeway on S. Havana when to return. I was told the toothpaste would arrive on Tuesday night and be restocked Wednesday. So, early Wednesday I drive over to Safeway and…yep, the shelves were empty. No Crest toothpaste. I asked one of the clerks, “What gives?” She told me that the shipment has actually come in Monday night and the store were restocked the next day.
But, and here’s why I’m mad, a group of 12 women swept in like locust right at opening on Tuesday and cleared the place out. That’s right, hundreds of tubes of toothpaste. They were buying 20 to 30 at a time. Word on the street is this “coupon gang” (and I could use other descriptive words, but MHOTC is “G”-rated) swarms the store and others around town, buying up super-sale items and then reselling at small stores and bodegas they operate. They do this repeatedly. Shame, shame on you, ladies. Not only is this unfair to other shoppers, but as my friend, Teresa, would say, just not nice.
Let me be clear, this is not a rant against Safeway. One of the managers, Tausha, went out of her way to track down the person who handles the ordering, find out when the next toothpaste shipment would be and kindly gave me a raincheck so I could shop without having to storm the doors at 7 a.m. and use my grocery cart as a battering ram to knock some of these extremists aside. In fact, several of the Safeway staffers apologized to me. I was told the store is trying to rein in this “gang”, but to no avail.
As someone who teaches couponing workshops, I know that there are ways to pay just pennies for certain products such as toothpaste, toilet paper and liquid soap. But there is nothing more frustrating than entering a supermarket on the first day of a sale and finding empty shelves. I write this post knowing it is unlikely the culprits read MHOTC. (Our subscribers are all very nice.) Still, if you do encounter someone (or, more likely, a group of “someones,” as they typically travel in packs like hungry wolves) clearing shelves and dumping 10 or 20 of a product into their carts, give them the evil eye and maybe point out that there are others out there who are being deprived due to these greedy folks. Someone call the “Extreme Coupon Police!”
I also find this at my local king soopers. When they have the Friday freebee or the toothpaste. I am starting to coupon more to save money but not like that. It’s not fair to the rest of us. Then to resell it!! Give me a break. If I catch some one doing that I will say something to them. Thanks for saying something here
That happened to me at the Hover St. (Longmont) 7-11 last year, the clerk let people take boxes of protein bars, despite the coupon stating one per person.
Not nice! Share the love (and respect the coupon).
I’d love to take one of your coupon workshops! Do you teach them often??
Thanks and sorry for this frustrating hassle!
Currently I have one coupon workshop scheduled in May down in Castle Rock. Here is a link to our Public Appearances page with a list of all of our talks and current schedule. https://www.milehighonthecheap.com/public-appearances/ If this link doesn’t work, go to the green navigation bar at the top of this page. Clock on Work With Us and then Public Appearances.
How is this happening? Our local King Soopers and Safeway stores do not allow more than 3-5 of the same item to be purchased in a single transaction. Most coupons only allow 1 coupon per day per person for no more than 3-4 of the same product. Purchases are tracked by our loyalty #s so we can’t go in more than once a day to purchase 3-5 of the same product. This sounds like it may be a management issue at your local store. They can rein people like the ladies you are encountering in by limiting the amount of product they buy in a transaction or per day. They are management and they do have that authority. My coupon policies that I have for several stores state this as well.
Well, I wouldn’t buy 20 or 30 toothpastes, and I don’t really use coupons, but I have purchased 10-12 deoderants at a time when they go on sale and used them over the course of 2-3 years. I didn’t know that was “being greedy”.
That coupon specifically should state 4 like coupons or something. The management should follow what the coupon says and their own policy. which is 5 max coupons of like product or what ever the restriction is on the coupon. The extreme ones are really annoying. I wish people would actually purchase what they will use in a timely manner instead of stocking up for years.
I’m not speaking out against stocking up. After all, many of us belong to warehouse clubs like Costco or Sam’s Club and buy 40 rolls of paper towels at a time. But I do get angry at those who come in packs and clear out the shelves of a store (buying hundreds of a sale item), leaving none for the rest. How would you feel if you saw a great deal on deodorant, but every store you went to was out and every day they restocked, you still couldn’t buy them because a greedy group kept depleting the stock.
Lenia,
Unfortunately people who do know how to “game” the system. They open multiple loyalty card accounts using various email addresses and phone numbers. So even if the store says a 4 coupon maximum, as in this case, you could get 3 tubes per coupon or 12 tubes at a time. Then you could go out to your car, dump the load and come back in a do it again. Also the store can’t keep a legitimate shopper from purchasing, so even though they see 12 women each buying 12 tubes of toothpaste, they can’t stop them. All it takes is for that group to make two passes through the cashiers (using different loyalty cards) and that’s 250+ tubes sold in a matter of minutes.
I probably ran into one of them a couple weeks ago. I saw signs for a “Crazy Sale” in the neighborhood and assumed it was a garage sale. When I entered the garage, however, they literally had a store set up in their garage (mostly toiletries). I mean, there were shelves and shelves of toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, deodorant, soap, etc. It was crazy!
I noticed at least 20 vendors at Mile High Flea Market recently that were re-selling items they acquired through extreme couponing.
I get wat u mean it sucks so much, i bearly started to coupon and couponers that been couponing for a long time or have stock piles already be taking everything and not leaving for the newbies. I hate when i cant find nothing because i havr to travel with two kiddos to diffrent stores. Which people had some compassion for other people who need it or are newbies.!!!
Hi Laura:
I have been doing couponing for 5 years or longer now, I noticed lately, both Kingsoopers and Safeway, items that consumers can get for free using coupons, both stores either don’t stock the items(when they ran out) anymore, or take off the sale tags, or change the price so the consumers can no longer get them for free. I had a feeling that is what happened to your store in Safeway, they just didn’t stock them and they perhaps made up that stories to keep you away, coz that is what happened to me in Safeway with the colgate/crest coupons, the shelf were always empty even though I stopped by everyday to check on them. I think it is the deed of the stores rather than the couponers. I am in Fort Collins.