Common Cents
A woman in New York goes shopping at her local supermarket. When she gets to the check-out counter her basket contains more than $130 worth of food. She pays $7.07 and leaves the store laden with bags. A housewife from New Jersey with a family of three goes to the store for $32 worth of food, including meat, and leaves only $3 poorer. Is it robbery? Do their husbands own the stores? No, these women and many others just take smart advantage of coupons and refund offers. Seldom do they throw away a package, can, or wrapper without first cutting off the box top or label. Never do they pass up or forget to send in a refund offer from a product they buy. You, too, can save up to $1,500 a year by cashing in coupons and money-back offers. Collecting coupons is time-consuming, but it can also drastically reduce your food bill. Though you can save a little money on the small 15cents or 20 cents coupons, the big savings come on the refund offers from the manufacturer. Refunds and coupons are generally only offered on name-brand products, so head for those for present or future savings. The first step in cutting your food bill is to create a file for your coupons, box tops, and other food labels. Try to save the whole package since the manufacturer may request another part of it at some future refund offer. Flatten out boxes and cartons, but if the package is just too big, save either the proof-of-purchase seal or Universal Product Code (that little grid of black and white lines). Put your file in alphabetical order for easy access to your labels. Above all, don't ever throw a package away without first inspecting it and making sure it's worthless. It takes about five hours a week to become a good coupon and refund shopper. This includes the time it takes to maintain your file and search the newspapers and magazines for coupons, sales, and refund forms. Also, be prepared to spend more time shopping and checking-out than you're used to. There are three main kinds of refund offers: 1) those which require writing to the manufacturer for a special form, 2) those which require special forms available from publications, and 3) those requiring no forms at all. The third kind (the most common) is the easiest all you need is the address of the manufacturer. For this type of offer, you must enclose in an envelope all the necessary labels and a note stating your request, the number of labels you're enclosing, and your name and address. Make sure you've fulfilled every qualification of the offer before you mail it. Keep a record of the offers you've applied for and don't expect your refund in a couple of days. It may take up to 12 weeks. After a while, you may find you are building up loyalties to certain brands. This is fine if coupons and refunds are continually available, but it's better to try different brands of regular items to expand the scope of your product file. By holding onto coupons, you may enhance their value, but be careful not to let the expiration date pass. Keep your eyes open especially for stores that offer double the coupons' value. These small, seemingly worthless coupons can add up to a good deal of money over the course of a year, especially when you receive twice their value. Though the total value of coupons only accounts for about 42cents on every $100 worth of merchandise sold, coupon clipping is big business in the U.S. Almost 80% of the people in America use food coupons, and more join the club every year. About 75% of the coupons are published in newspapers and their supplements, with the rest from magazines, direct mail, and in-pack offers. Brand-name manufacturers offer the most coupons on processed foods, household products, and health and beauty aids. Perishable food coupons are usually offered by individual stores through advertised specials. Extra money generated by refunds and coupons can go back into your budget to pay for other things. One woman paid off her heating bill for an entire year with money she saved with refunds and coupons. There are a number of newsletters published around the country, listing what coupons are available and sources of extra coupons to fill in sets for a refund. For a list of these newsletters, write to Refundle Bundle, P.O. Box 141, Centuck Station, Yonkers, N.Y. 10710.
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