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Since the frugal blogging world is all talking about e coupons with paper coupons and the legitimacy of it I thought I would quickly give you my two cents too. You will notice that this week’s deals still include them matched with paper coupons so that gives you a tip to my take…
First as background I have had extensive conversations with the planners/designers of Cellfire.They found this site a while back and had a lot of questions about us couponers so I tried to fill them in. I told them up front the best part of e coupons was that we could use them with paper coupons.Here is the summary of what they said.
While their goal is make it where you can only use one coupon they know that people can and will use 2 coupons for now.They also are eager for people to use their system and do not want to deter anyone from using it.
E coupons are a business folks. Shortcuts, and Cellfire need and want you to use their coupons. They long to show the manufacturers that this is the route to coupon distribution and thus take the money from Smart Source and other normal coupon distributors and put it into their own pockets. Also there are some pretty good kick backs from Kroger in all this for these companies as you are now loyal to Kroger since your e coupons only work there!!
They do hope to limit use of e coupons however will it happen? I honestly doubt it. Think about the differences between an e coupon and a paper coupon. If you were forced to pick one over the other many of us would always choose a paper coupon. Forcing that decision would be really bad for their business…
- The e coupon will never double
- You might have numerous paper coupons for the same item, you will only get 1 e coupon.
- You can have various amounts off for one item in paper coupons and thus can choose the best coupon for that store. E coupons give you no choice.
Keeping those in mind, and realizing that the e coupon folks know those same issues, they are not going to force your hand anytime soon.
Now for the legitimacy of it. First we covered that they know you are doing it and would prefer your business. Second how would you propose to not use both coupons together?
- Being able to load over 100 e coupons to your card you cannot be expected to remember what coupons were there every time you shopped.
- What happens if you find a paper coupon that will double or is worth more while shopping in the store or anytime after you load the e coupon?They have no way for you to remove the e coupon nor do they have a way for you to choose not to use it.
Since both of these are big issues to get around your options would be to
A. not use them entirely
B. only load coupons that you have never seen a paper coupon for in the past
C. continue using them as before and enjoy the savings
I choose option C. Cellfire wants you to also choose C. I can’t speak for Shortcuts but I would assume they would also like to keep their usage rates up to be able to market to other companies.
Now before I am roasted for fraud or other things that you would like to say let me make one comparison for you before you cast the first stone…
Look at your CVS, Walgreens and other store deals where you get items for FREE all the time. Is it Walgreens intention or CVS’s intention for us to get everything for free and never spend money in their stores? No. Is it their intention for us to transfer prescriptions every month always getting rewards greater than the cost of the medication? No. At Walgreens you are using manufacturer coupons to get items for free that then print another manufacturer coupon. At CVS it’s the same thing, manufacturer sponsored deals free or money makers using manufacturer coupons with them. Stating that something is fraudulent because it is not the intention of the company is going one step too far. The computer allows you to do it, the programmers know you are doing it, and the store just wants your business. If we went on intentions of business when finding deals sadly we would have no deals. They want you to pay top retail, and they want you to come in and buy lots of other items.
Now cast any stones you care to. These are my opinions and for my family and our budget needs as long as these coupons work together I will use them together. The same goes for rolling ECB’s at CVS to get FREE items and using coupons at Walgreens to make money too.
On a side note I no longer trust Shortcuts or P&G coupons to work even when used all on their own and see that many of you are also having problems with these two companies.
