Crystal Steers watches the cash register tally diligently, and she becomes visibly tense with each carefully chosen purchase she hands to the Walmart cashier for scanning.
“Every time it beeps I have a mini heart attack,” she says. “I think ‘oh no, is it not going to let me buy it?’ So it can be a little stressful at times."
Steers, of St. Catharines, is an avid coupon consumer. She spends 8-10 hours each day clipping coupons, researching on-line specials, and browsing through flyers to discover the best deals. And on a shopping day even more time is dedicated to her mission to score the biggest value for her dollar.
“It’s quite a bit of work. On days that I go shopping I am in each store about 2-3 hours, depending on what I am purchasing. And then I’m also at home looking for coupons, searching for deals, and organizing the binder.”
The binder is a massive storage unit for hundreds of coupons meticulously organized by Steers. There are categories, sub-categories and a whole section dedicated to products Steers will be able to score for free. She never leaves home without it.
“I always take the binder with me anytime I go shopping regardless of what I'm
purchasing. Even if I’m only intending to go to a store to pick up, Kleenex, for example, they might have on their discounted rack something that I have a coupon for that will make it free or close to free and I don’t want to miss that opportunity.”
Steers says the most thrilling shopping excursions are those where her coupons not only save her money, but actually make a profit for her.
“When I say make a profit, I don’t mean I’m walking away with an extra $5,” she explains. “A store will never give you money for shopping there, but if I have a $5.00 coupon for a product which is on sale for less than that I can use the credit towards something else I am purchasing that day. Or it can pay the taxes on something, because in Ontario, even if we have a coupon for free stuff we still have to pay the taxes on it.”
Steers says necessity lead her to the world of couponing.
“It started purely out of necessity. I’ve been unemployed for a year now and I have a dog that I try very hard to support by myself. I adopted her from the humane society 10 ½ years ago and she requires monthly medication and special stuff, so being able to afford her has been a challenge.”
Steers wrote one of the pet food companies she buys from and asked if they had any promotions going on to help with the cost of food and they sent her a coupon for a free sample bag.
“And that’s how the whole thing started. It sort of snowballed from there. I contacted other companies, went on-line and did a bunch of research, and started paying attention to the coupon inserts you get in the newspapers.”
She says smart consumers can walk away with incredible deals simply by watching pricing and taking advantage of sales.
“Paying attention always pays off. Wait for products to go on sale and then use the coupons. Buy items in bulk. Wait for end-of-season sales. Realistically, I know not everyone can dedicate as much time to couponing as I can; but do what works best for you and optimize your time to make it benefit you.”
Steers admits she no longer uses coupons because of just necessity; it is now something she wants to do.
"As bad as this sounds, it’s actually very addicting. When I first started this I thought ‘this is how I am going to afford to live.’ I didn’t think anything beyond that. Now it is something I actually love doing, and I feel stressed out when I don’t do it. Even if I’m only saving a dollar or 50 cents, or whatever, I feel better knowing that it’s money I can put towards a bill. It’s money I can put towards the rent…it makes me feel better knowing that I’m able to afford my life without asking other people for money. All of those things I can do because I coupon. So, it’s a really good feeling actually.”
Couponing is “like a rush” for Steers, but surprisingly, it is also nerve-racking.
"It’s a little stressful too. The very first time I watched Extreme Couponing (a TLC documentary style television series following coupon wielding pros on their shopping excursions) I couldn’t understand why they had such anxiety at the cash register. But ,until you go through it a few times, you don’t really understand.”
Steers explains that despite all the planning she does, there’s still the feeling that a coupon won’t be accepted or something will go wrong.
“I have huge anxiety. I shop and I plan, and I know realistically that I’m not spending $200-300 dollars…but I get up to the cash register and they’ll say ‘before coupons this is how much you owe’ There’s a moment of ‘oh my god; I don’t have that money. ..what the hell am I going to do?’ And then they start to ring in the coupons, and it’s a little bit better, and by the time you’re done you’re like ‘oh my god this is the best high ever’”
Steers admits she isn’t as “extreme” as the assiduous shoppers profiled on Extreme Couponing, but she’s working on it.
“They have huge stockpiles because they’ve been doing it so long. But if I could find some way to make this a career, I would.”
Steers is polite, courteous and efficient as she begins transporting her purchases from the safety of the shopping cart to the checkout convey belt. She introduces herself and calmly lets the cashier know her transaction will take awhile. In fact, when other customers form a line behind Steers, she suggests they might receive quicker services from another till. They take a quick glance in her cart, at her binder full of coupons and agree.
Steers pulls out flyers from competitors for price matching, and hands over product coupons, often explaining how to ring in the coupon. She has so many deals that even the cashier is impressed. Then the very thing Steers dreads the most happens. There is a discrepancy between Steers and the cashier on the fine print of one of her coupons on whether it can be used on trial sized products.
“I have a copy of your corporate coupon policy, and it states I can use this coupon,” Steers says as she reaches into her binder. “Please feel free to call your manager,” she continues when the cashier looks uncertain.
Ultimately two managers are called to examine the coupon and it is refused, although no one examines the store’s corporate coupon policy statement that Steers keeps handy for incidents like this.
The transaction continues after the slight blip and the moment of truth comes. Before coupons and price matching Steers’ total is $160.11. After the savings are entered the revised amount is only $56.53.
Steers is pleased with her days’ thriftiness, although she points out her savings would have been higher if she had been able to use the problematic coupon.
“And that’s fine,” she says politely. “I’ll just email head office and tell them I was unable to purchase a product at the store today due to coupon confusion and we’ll see what happens.”
*AUTHOR'S NOTE: Steers was contacted by Walmart's corporate office and given a $25 gift card for the inconvenience. She was also assured that she should have been able to use her coupon, and in the future to ask for the duty manager if a problem occurs.
Crystal Steers began “couponing” in April; within only a few months she has saved about $3000 and received an additional $700 in free products. She uses websites such as save.ca, websaver.ca and smartcanucks.ca to choose coupons (some allow consumers to print at home; others will mail coupons out). Here are a few more of her coupon tips:
- Be organized - keep coupons arranged by category in a binder. The easier coupons are to find; the easier they can be used. Make a detailed list before hitting the stores of the products you’re buying , coupons being used and prices.
- Know the coupon policy - request a copy of the store’s corporate coupon policy from head office and keep it handy. This can help avoid coupon confusion when checking out.
- Become a fan of sale flyers- using coupons when a product is on sale results in substantial sales; often even yielding a profit. End-of-season sales are great for stocking up on items. Some stores will price match their competitors, so use this to your advantage.
- A little praise goes a long way- if you can’t find a coupon for your favourite products try requesting one from the company. Let them know you love their product and they will often send out coupons and sign you up for special deals.
- Be courteous- let other customers in line know you might be a while and treat the cashier with respect. Smiling, making sure you have the appropriate coupons ready as products are scanned, and being polite can speed up the process and make it more enjoyable.
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