I have learned a lot about responsible coupon use in the last year from visiting your site. You have told us how to use coupons ethically and legally, but what do you do when people in line behind you get grouchy? -Jackie
We live in a fast-paced society where patience is often a long-lost virtue. Most people are in a hurry when going through the checkout lanes and less than thrilled if they get hung up for 15 minutes due to another shopper’s stack of coupons.
Here are a few suggestions for streamlining the checkout process and avoiding irritating other shoppers:
1. Shop During Off-Hours — If you can, try to hit the stores when few others are shopping — usually earlier in the morning or late at night. I’ve found that rush-hour shoppers are notoriously impatient.
2. Be Organized — Before you even get in line, make sure you have all of your coupons together and in order and your store cards and cash at the ready. Spending three minutes fishing through your coupon box or purse for a missing coupon is likely going to frustrate everyone. This is why I recommend double-checking all your coupons before getting in line to pay to make sure you’re not missing any.
3. Choose an Efficient Cashier — I always “scout out” cashiers before picking a checkout line to go through. Choosing an efficient cashier not only saves you a lot of time, but it usually makes for a much smoother checkout.
4. Be Courteous and Confident — Invariably, you’ll have some shopping trips where the cash register or cashier is refusing to accept some of your coupons. Politely and quickly explain the store’s coupon policy or why they should accept the coupon. If a cashier is unwilling to budge, don’t become frustrated; it’s not worth having a fight over a few dollars. Just ask them to remove the item from your transaction and give the coupon back to you. In most cases, so long as you are polite and courteous, it’s not a big deal.
5. Let Others Know You Have Coupons — If you have a lot of coupons and think there’s a possibility that your checkout might be a bit tedious, don’t hesitate to politely tell anyone who gets in line behind you, “I have a stack of coupons I’m using today, so it might take me awhile to checkout.” If you’ve warned them of this upfront, it’s their decision if things ended up taking awhile.
Those are a few of my suggestions on how to avoid irritating others when you use coupons. I’d love to hear your ideas, as well!
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I’m not one for confrontation, so I usually go in with the expectation that my transaction might not go that well. But I echo the others – I try to go w/o kids when possible, go to cashiers who are usually friendly about it, and have all of my coupons organized and ready to hand over. I also try to keep the number of coupons down when possible, but usually my experience has been that if they have UPC codes on them, it doesn’t take very long to scan them.
I use post-it flags to mark the items I plan to price match. It saves time for everyone (the cashier, customers in line, and me). You can use the flags again and again. Actually I think I bought them months ago with a coupon.
I let people with just a few items step ahead of me in line. I also give people in front or in back of me coupons if I have them for an item they are buying. I shop early in the morning right after dropping my kids off at school so there are very small lines if any. Most clerks in this town know me and there are now only a few whos lines I will not go into.I have also given many of the clerks coupons if i have extras, or tell them where to get them. Treating others the way I want to be treated goes a long way.
Oh, this is SOO funny! I love all the war stories! If I have a big ol’ stack of coupons I always smile and say, “I’m gonna give you trouble today!” and wave my stack. They usually laugh at that and then almost always get into discussion of “every little bit counts.” Only a couple times have I had much trouble…always at Kmart. I don’t darken Target’s rude doors anymore…(shiver). I try to head for the young guys if I see them. They are usually fast and friendly. At Walmart I check out a lot in the garden center cuz they are usually bored and glad for something to do. Funny how much strategy we use to get a good deal. And of course, always, always be polite and friendly, even when others are rude. Be the better Mom.
I usually organize my basket with coupoon things grouped together. I’m kinda particular about how I like my things bagged, so I group those together, too. I do tend to put the coupoon items last so if they need to find anything, they can fairly easily.
I, however, don’t worry about other people. I’ve had to wait my turn in line more then once, so I don’t feel bad. Once you stop worrying about what other people think, life gets much easier.
I try to make the stack neat and keep the store/manf. coupons for the same item together. Young guys and gals definitly don’t care usually and will scan anything.
Haven’t read all the comments so sorry if this has been posted already!
If I have coupons for free items, those are the first (or last) items I load onto the conveyor belt at the grocery store. That way when the cashier is ringing up my coupons at the end of my order, it’s easy for them to find on my receipt the free item to fill in the price on the receipt instead of looking through a ja-jillion items looking for where they rang it up.
I’d love to be able to go later at night, but at my local Meijer, the only lanes open are the self check out, & a cashier has to be called for every coupon….which can be time consuming! Also, I’ve had problems with cartalinas not printing (Meijer will often print a list of items to buy & what catalinas you’ll receive on the back of their flyer), when I pointed out that I had purchased the required products & my catalina didn’t print, they had no idea what I was talking about! I had to educate them and walk them through the back of their own ad to explain to them how they worked! Crazy….but I was patient & positive & it worked! Great tips to eveyone above!
I love the idea about putting B1G1 items or free items at the end. I am sooo going to start that! I do shop at different stores with different types of coupons though. Our local grocery stores do not have anyone blogging to tell me the deals so I have to rely on the ad and walking around the store. Here are my stories:)
For almost a year I didn’t shop at Walmart because they were not accepting internet coupons or it was hit or miss if the cashier would take them. Then I went there with a bunch and was very successful. Since then I have found myself there when there were only older lady cashiers and I thought I was done for…well I found a women that loves seeing people get deals from their coupons and now try to remember who she is when I go there…granted I only go there once a month so I don’t always remember who she is but I think I have her pictured in my head now! I will take my coupons for items that I know rarely go on sale at other stores because they will have a standard price at Walmart…at our locate stores I only buy things that are on sale because if it is not the price is too outrageous.
Target-that is where I take internet B1G1 Free or Free coupons. Their cash registers know the price of the free item so the cashier does not have to type in the price. Makes it go very fast..the downfall…we do not have a Super Target so our food choices are limited and many times they are out.
Walgreens-many times they are out of whatever is on sale. Since I can’t go multiple times per week I am out of luck if they do not have it when I am there. They are pretty good with coupons however the check outs always fill up right after me!
I love this blog and others about coupons. I would never be able to get the deals I get if someone else was not behind the research. I am a mom of 3, 2 of which are 3 and under, work full time, and own another business. So thank you, thank you, thank you!!
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