E coupons: Everything I know…

I get a lot of questions about e coupons every week and had been tossing around a post about them for a while but was specifically asked for one today so…

First: E grocery coupons can only be used at Kroger (or Kroger affiliate stores) right now so if you aren’t a Kroger shopper you can just log this away somewhere until the rest of the stores enter the digital age.

There are three companies currently that offer coupons you can load to your Kroger card, Procter and Gamble, Shortcuts, and Cellfire.  All of the coupons work the same way.  You go onto the individual sites and select which coupons you want and save them to your Kroger Shopper Card.

Most common questions about e coupons:
1. Yes, they do allow you to use a paper coupon with any e coupon!! (That’s the best part!!)
2. The e coupon does not take off until you or the cashier has hit the total/done scanning button.
3. If you load a coupon for the same product on your card twice (either from one site that has two available or one from two sites) it will only take off one for each item.  Ex: You load (2) Cottonelle Toilet Paper coupons, you buy 1 Cottonelle product, it will only use one coupon.  If you buy 2 Cottonelle Products, it will use both e coupons.
4. You are allowed 50 coupons at a time on your card total between Procter & Gamble and Shortcuts.  Cellfire has its own maximum of 50 that is separate from the 50 mentioned before.  After you go shopping you can come home and load more coupons.
5. Once you load a coupon it is on your card until you purchase the product or the coupon expires!  You can’t remove them any other way.

General Tip: Make sure you read the e coupon carefully, know what the exact product, size etc is that you should buy.  If you get the wrong thing it does not tell you like a paper coupon does when it beeps.

Site Specific information:
Procter and Gamble (PG, or P&G)

• New coupons are loaded every other month.  No matter when you load the coupon to your card they all expired on the same day.
• All coupons are for products that Procter and Gamble make.
• If you have a problem with PG coupons coming off at check out and you know that you bought the item, go to their contact us page on their website and let them know.  They will ask for what store you used it at and then they will load a general coupon (more like a credit) straight onto your card for the next time you shop.  They load the rounded up dollar amount of the coupon or coupons that did not work.  Ex.  You bought Folgers and the .25¢ did not come off, they will put a credit for $1 on your card.

Tip: Load only the PG coupons that you want to use that week on your card.  These are not everyday shopping items and you are only going to get them the week they are on sale.  If you load them early they are just taking up space that other coupons could have.

Shortcuts

• New coupons are loaded at random times.  Always check before shopping!  Coupons are good for  2 months from when Shortcuts made them available.
• Coupons are for various products and brands including Kroger house brands.
• They also have a contact form if you ever have problems redeeming coupons.  I have not ever had a problem with shortcut coupons before so I can’t give any insight but they state that “your problem will be their first priority” on their website.
• Recently they have started having “meal deal” sets of coupons that you load to your card.  You do not have to purchase everything in the deal to use the coupons.

Tip: Meal deals are not available as long as other coupons so if you see items you will buy in a deal load it when you see it.  The downside with meal deals though is the number of coupons that they add to your card that you may not want.  I load coupons that I know I will use or might use when I see them.

Cellfire

• New coupons are loaded every other Tuesday.  Coupons expire 2 weeks after you load the coupon.  So, you load it the last day it is available you still have 2 weeks to use it.
• You are allowed 50 coupons at a time these are separate from the 50 allowed for Shortcuts and P&G.
• Coupons are for various products and brands including Kroger house brands.
• They also have coupons for other stores around town — these do require using your cell phone.
• If you have a problem with a coupon applying at check out they also have a contact form and will credit your card the same way P&G does with a general coupon off of your next purchase.

To set up your account you will need at least cell phone that can receive one text message.  Go to their site to set up your account and enter you information and they will send a code to your phone.  After you set up your account you will never need or use your cell phone again unless you want to. They do not send text messages or use your phone for anything either.  I got to talk with the designers & marketing for Cellfire before they launched their new look and they have hopes to make this more than just Kroger — they are not out to spam your phone.

**Tip: Many have been able to set up Cellfire using the home telephone number and never getting the taxt message.  If you don’t have a cellphone or are wary of the text message part, try this.**

Thanks Susan for reminding me about U promise E coupons.

U Promise now offers e coupons too.  These are not like the coupons discussed above.   They do not take off the amount at checkout.  Instead of it being $1 off a product, when you buy x product you get $1 put into your U promise account.

• You can load them onto any store card you have (Pick up a Publix U promise card at Customer Service).
• You can load as many coupons as you like and it does not affect your limits of other e coupons.
• You can also still use paper coupons with these coupons.
• You will still get the regular percentage back into your U Promise account too, so this is a way to double dip on savings and save more!

Sign up here if you don’t have U Promise yet.  And no, you don’t have to have a kid to sign up!

Let me know if you have any other questions and I’ll add the answers!!