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One of the most common questions and frustrations in couponing is “missing coupons”. I will tell you that there is a coupon in a certain insert and you search through the insert 14 times. It’s just not there!
Why?
Manufacturer’s think of coupons as part of their advertising budget. They have areas that they want to target or a certain number of people that they want to reach. Generally their money goes further in larger cities. So the big cities get more coupons. In the south that’s Atlanta GA, Jacksonville FL, and Charlotte NC. They get a lot of the coupons that are released, from there the smaller the city the fewer the coupons you will find in your newspaper.
How can you get these coupons?
Order them or Trade for them. If a coupon is in the weekly insert previews, but you didn’t get it in your paper, remember that somebody somewhere did get the coupon so head online and see if you can find it. There are a lot of sites that have coupons you can order. After you open your paper on Sunday and see what you are missing that you wanted then go ahead and order them. A few that I would recommend are:
One note: Never order a printable coupon online. You don’t know it’s history or if it’s an orginal or a copy. Also for Ebay look at the reputation of the seller just as you would if you were purchasing something else.
You can also trade coupons you have for coupons you want. We have a traders board on Southern Savers with over 700 members. Jump in there and see if someone else can help you out with the coupon you need.
A tip for Organization:
If you keep your inserts whole and only cut the coupons as you need them for shopping each week, “missing” coupons can be a big waste of your time. You go through the insert 14 times hoping you’ll find it if you just keep looking. So save yourself some time and frustration and print the regional variation list for your paper each week. I post these every Wednesday night for the previous week. So print your list and put it with the inserts for that week. Now when you see:
-$4 off Nivea Body Wash SS 5/02
You can go to you inserts from May 2nd and look at the variations list first to see if it’s even in your Smart Source insert. If it is on the list for your area then start to flip through to find it, if it’s not on the list then move on (or go order it!).
(A huge thanks to the folks that make these regional lists for us everyweek! These are awesome readers that live in your area volunteering to help everyone.)
