This weekend I passed along some coupons to a friend who had mentioned needing some razors. In fact, they use Schick Quattro and I happened to have multiples of a $4 off MQ and a matching $4 off Target coupon, making the $7.94 razor free. I cautioned how they have to take these coupons and get the deal at Target since it is a Target coupon, and they would need to tell the cashier to do a "manual adjustment" since there was a 0.06 overage that Target registers kick out.
Well today I followed up with that person to find out if they got the free razors. He said they still seemed kind of expensive. I said how, they were free. Well, turns out they didn't go to Target, they went to some drugstore. Target was too far away, like a couple miles. Anyway, of course the drugstore wouldn't take the Target coupon! Duh. I'm sure the price was higher too. Oh but they took the $4 coupon.
I couldn't believe it. I try to help people understand couponing and show them matchups, do the deals first myself, so I can tell them what to expect, and they still either don't listen, think it doesn't matter where you go, or they just aren't that bright. It's not that hard is it? Are we all genius's who can figure out how to match up and stack coupons with store sales? I don't think it's that complicated, but it does take some practice and to start out with simple one item deals to make sure everything works out as planned. But I wish I knew an easy way to share the coupon love, because I don't have the time to go shopping with everyone to train them in. I generally refuse to cut coupons for others too, since the ways I get them are accessible to all others. They can print their own, and get extra inserts, and of course scan store aisles for blinkies and peelies and booklets.
So this friend wants me to teach a coupon class to a bunch of ladies in her neighborhood. I would love to do it and plan to do it. But since I need to figure out a way to simplify the process. I just hate to feel responsible for people who don't catch on, and they end up spending money they intended to save. There are many deals that I would never do if it weren't for the cheap cost with using coupons. Oh well, back to the drawing board on this one.