Why extreme couponing is wasteful and GREEDY.

[Anonymous]

Here is a link to an ad place on craigslist from a family doing another garage sale after their most recent successful sale. They're selling items they got for FREE with coupons. Pure greed. I tried couponing at bloom since the month of June they were doubling coupons up to $1.99..I went in there after cutting my coupons and found out that the extreme couponers had cleaned out most supplies. A clerk told me that pasta (free after a double coupon) was cleaned out by ONE woman that brought in coupons and just kept her transactions separated (bloom only allows 20 coupons per transaction so she found a way around this). I was told my the same clerk that the extreme couponers will wait until the store opens and the same 3 or 4 people will take the whole inventory. So I used 4 coupons and got almost nothing. Much like the extreme couponers on tv, most of these people were obese and greedy. Does a family of 3 really need 100 boxes of pasta? Or 80 packs of deodorant? How about 55 boxes of tylenol?
People have become greedy. If the deals are so good, get some or DONATE to foodbank! I would like a deal too and I can show some respect to other shoppers and only buy a few of each product.
But really, selling items you got for free at a garage sale? A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF TACKY. Selling toothpaste for $1.00?! You can walk into wegman's today and it's only 89 cents WITHOUT a coupon.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/gms/2480563408.html

[Anonymous]

please send them the link to this post, write them an email and let us know what they say...

[Anonymous]

Why do that? They obviously don't think it's tacky or wrong because they're having another sale.

[Anonymous]

I think it might be okay if they gave all the stuff away to needy families.

[Anonymous]

There was a deal on a discontinued soup the other day and I cleared the shelf. I felt bad about it but figured it was discontinued anyway. When I use coupons I never use more than I can handle. I went shopping at walmart the other day and didn't use more than two coupons for similar items and I still wound up using 56 coupons. I needed an override and a supervisor with a key. My grocery bill was reduced by about $65 and I paid about $100 additional. I don't buy more than we could use and I don't buy things we won't use. I have purchased things to donate to my church so it can be given to those in need.

[Anonymous]

If you get it for free and then donate it, you at least get to write it off on your taxes.

I agree this is greedy and tacky.

[Anonymous]

If you get it for free and then donate it, you at least get to write it off on your taxes.

If you didn't pay anything for it you can't write off anything.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if extreme couponing over a certain amount is taxable income? Just like how monetary gifts (from family, etc.) above a certain $$ are taxable.

Anonymous wrote:

If you didn't pay anything for it you can't write off anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you get it for free and then donate it, you at least get to write it off on your taxes.

If you didn't pay anything for it you can't write off anything.

I don't see how that can be the case. If you give something that has monetary value, you should be able legally to claim that value. The government should not care if it was a gift to you.

[Anonymous]

Your title is unfair. You have attacked a whole group of people based on the actions of a few bad apples.

[Anonymous]

Op here. But how many are a few bad apples? If you watch extreme couponing on tv, 100% of the participants will clean off a shelf. ALL featured on the show have 3,4 or 5 carts full of stuff. I think more and more people see that and think to be successful at couponing you have to hoard stuff. I've given up on trying to match the sales and coupons because of these particular people. I'll still continue to use coupons when I can but only for a few items, not hundreds.

I hate to generalize but from what I've seen, the majority seem to be going overboard and hoarding.

[Anonymous]

My aunt is a consumer advocate. She is well-known, in fact you can google her. She started out as an "extreme couponer" back in the seventies before there was a title for what she did. We just thought she had a weird hobby. She saved a tremendous amount of money; my uncle was in the army. Because she constantly knew the prices of every item she also became highly familiar with sales tax codes and knew many times when she should not be charged sales tax on items, and corrected cashiers and stores. She then joined the county consumer's group and this led to consumer advocacy as a field, all self-taught. In the last 10-20 years, she has sued Wal-Mart many times for scanner errors and inaccuracies and tax overruns, always in the store's favor, and won.

I think the notion that extreme couponing is always greedy is as stupid as any generalization.

[Anonymous]

If you are going to make rash decisions based on tv shows, than so am I. Starting with...Desperate Housewives. I can't believe all people act like that!

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with you, OP. Extreme couponing is just another case of hoarding and a shopping addiction rolled together. A few things bother me about extreme couponing. First, who needs a 30 year supply of deoderant? Second, coupons are for processed foods usually, which is totally unheathly for people. So not only are the ladies cheating the store and fellow shoppers BUT they also are likely to run up huge medical bills, due to the ramifications of their sh*tastic diet, that cost our society. They should focus on eating healthy not trying to get a can of discontinued salt..eer I mean soup (well really chicken flavored salt). There are much healthier ways to reduce your grocery bill AND still eat nutritious foods, but I guess it lacks the thrill of getting 250 bottles of shampoo for nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to make rash decisions based on tv shows, than so am I. Starting with...Desperate Housewives. I can't believe all people act like that!

Desperate Housewives is a scripted show. People don't act like that, honey, it is fictional!