The Cleveland Press
Susan Samtur strolled into a Cleveland supermarket and loaded her cart with grocery items that totaled $81 37 at the checkout counter. Cheerfully, she paid the clerk $1.61 for the cart load and left. She has done equally as well in other cities Mrs. Samtur doesn't use magic. She doesn't hypnotize check-out clerks. She does nothing illegal. Instead, she uses coupons lots of them. Standing at the check-out counter, Mrs. Samtur always reaches for coupons before she reaches for cash. She has turned coupon collecting into a fine and profitable art elevating it from a handful of 10-cent and 20-cent-off coupons to returns that amount to $4,000 a year. "The clerk laughed when I handed all those coupons to her, but she was pretty surprised when she added them up and saw the final bill," Mrs. Samtur said "Actually, of the $161 I had to pay. $1.54 was tax. So I really wound up getting a cartful of groceries for seven cents." Mrs. Samtur, a Yonkers. N.Y., housewife, is known in the trade as a refunder She saves cents-off coupons found in newspapers, magazines and fliers, and also cashes in money-back refund offers found on specially marked packages and on the store shelves. She was in Cleveland recently to tell other shoppers how they could take advantage of her shopping system and to promote her monthly guide for refunds. "Refundle Bundle." "Obviously, I can't shop like I did here all the time even with coupons." Mrs. Samtur said "I just do this to show people the potential savings that can be achieved with coupons I usually can save about half of my weekly grocery bill." She estimates she saves $200 a month at the supermarket alone. About 20% of her purchases are completely free thanks to coupons. Added to this is the $1,500 she gets in cash a year from the money-back offers. "Manufacturers often will give you $ 1, $2 or more back for buying their products." she explained. "I put the cash from this into a special bank account. The interest is enough to pay my postage, which averages about $15 a month." Instead of cash, companies often will give free groceries. For example, a cookie company recently offered a coupon for a free half-gallon of milk, explained Mrs. Samtur as she proudly held up a $1.50-off coupon on hamburger from Borden cheese. "They want me to remember to use Borden's to make cheeseburgers." said Mrs. Samtur, who never makes cheeseburgers because she keeps a kosher kitchen. On top of all of this is free merchandise that Mrs. Samtur receives thanks to the generosity of many manufacturers. "You become a walking advertisement for the company, but a lot of these things are cute, particularly for the kids." she said. "Many of the children's things I give away as favors at my kid's birthday parties." She brought a canvas bag to The Press, and it was loaded with a hamburger cooker, garden tools, a table cloth, T-shirt, slippers, socks, children's books and several other items. She got these, and more, free, or nearly free. "I save the wrappers or proof of purchase seals from every item I buy." Mrs. Samtur said. "These are all flattened out and filed in alphabetical order in shoe and boot boxes in my garage. When a manufacturer offers to send a check or merchandise if you mail in so many labels, I'm ready." She merely goes through her files, pulls out the needed labels, mails them in and waits for the money or merchandise to arrive. She mails for about 100 refund offers a month. She is particularly pleased with a hamburger cooker and a popcorn popper, both received free. I had to mail 120 soap labels in for them." she said. "The manufacturer hadn't had an offer for a long time so when this was announced I already had 80 labels ready to go. For some of the rest, I just unwrapped bars of soap that I had on hand. That makes the soap get harder and last longer anyway." Mrs. Samtur estimates that all her refunding activities take five hours a week. Shopping at the supermarket takes another hour, "if I don't have to go with the kids." she said "I would never suggest that this is for everyone." she said, 'it's not that I think most people are lazy. I just think that many people feel it's not worth the effort. "You have to have enough motivation to do this and you must be very organized. I am. The labels are in alphabetical order; the coupons are filed by categories. I work on this while the coffee is brewing, or while I'm doing the laundry. It would take the beginning refunder a little longer at first. Maybe, seven hours a week until they get a system and set up their files." The biggest shopping mistake most people make, Mrs. Samtur feel is that they don't take advantage of specials by buying in quantity. "If they need toilet paper, they will run in the store and buy one role." she said. "If the store is selling it at a good price, stock up on it." To take advantage of her system, start by collecting all the coupons you can find. "Then check your supermarket ads in the newspaper," she said. "Match up the sale items with your cents-off coupons and you will get a double savings. Keep your coupons until that item goes on sale. Almost everything is on sale eventually. But never buy anything you don't need. That's no savings at all." If a manufacturer runs a money-back offer that requires proof-of-purchase, the firm also usually runs a cents-off coupon to buy the needed item. "If you can combine all of these, you are really saving money," she said Be willing to switch brands for a refund, she advises. "The manufacturers who run these things are all usually name brand companies. I don't care if a buy Baggies or Hefty Bags. I'll pick whichever one will get me a refund." One advantage Mrs. Samtur has over Cleveland shoppers is that stores near her New York home frequently run double coupon promotions, which are almost never used here. She recently bought a $4.49 turkey roast for 49 cents because of a $2-off coupon. Meats and perishables are one area where coupons usually can't help much. "But frequently, you will get coupons for your choice of groceries, and this can help take up some of that slack," she added. Mrs. Samtur, whose book on refunding is about to be published, began her "Refundle Bundle" newsletter six years ago with 13 friends as subscribers. Today 30,000 re-funders subscribe for $9 a year. The monthly booklet lists offers that are available and a "switch 'n' swap" section for readers who want to exchange forms or coupons. The address is "Refundle Bundle," Box 141, Centuck Station. Yonkers, N Y., 10710.
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