Either we get lousy dollar values OR we don't get certain choice coupons at all...usually its the "not at all" option that we suffer through.
It really chaps my hide since we also don't have ANY major grocery retailers either, beyond our "smaller, not as good deals" regional ones.....and they don't take internet printed coupons at all, adding insult to the injury.
I guess it's just as well the advertisers/manufacturers don't supply us with the good coupons.....if we did get the good coupons, we wouldn't have anywhere to use them, where we could maximize our savings with them.
Sometimes it sucks to be us and live here.....
Anyway, I am noticing something even more disturbing lately with the coupon inserts here.
Hubs and I bought a total of 5 newspapers on Sunday.
Our "metro" area has 2 major publications(I'll call them #1 and #2), plus the town south of us has one publication as well(we'll refer to it as #3).
We bought paper #1 at the local convenience store/gas station.
I bought paper #2 & #3 at Rite-Aid.
We bought 2 more of paper #2 at the Dollar Store.
Now there were 3 different coupon inserts available this past Sunday.....a Smart Source, a Red Plum and a P& G.
Here is what I found in paper #1......
Just the Smart Source insert.
Here is what came in paper #2....
All 3 inserts.
Here is what came in paper #3.....
Just the P& G insert.
Rite-Aid-where I bought paper #2 & #3 had stacks of paper #1 also. I checked 3 different papers randomly pulling them from the stack(not just from the top)of the #1s. All of the #1s I checked ONLY had the Smart Source insert!
The Dollar Store carries paper #2.....the 2 I bought had these inserts....
All 3 that were release.
This seems to be a new development. These 3 different papers have always carried ALL the available inserts for the week in the past. This week only 1 of the publications carried the full complement of inserts.
I've heard of certain areas losing the Valassiss(RedPlum)inserts but papers in the same town/area losing different inserts from each other?
Is anybody else seeing loopy stuff like this going on in their area?
Or am I just paranoid OCDing here?!lol
Sluggy loosing her grip
I don't even bother with the dollar store near me anymore because more times than not there were no coupon inserts in the paper when there should've been. I just imagine a bunch of ladies sitting in a back room before the store opens picking out the inserts for the good coupon weeks.
ReplyDeleteJennifer--I hate to say it but you are probably right about the employees raiding the papers for the inserts.
ReplyDeleteI have given up hope that the Couponing Bug will bite me, so if you want I will mail you all my scads of coupons I get in the Sunday paper each week. Just let me know if you want your mailbox flooded.
ReplyDeleteDo you live in PA? Seriously, I live in Western NY, and we were in PA this past weekend, Harrisburg, (Hershey Park actually)..
ReplyDeleteI got dh to stop @ 3 different gas stations on Sunday when we were coming home just to scan for tear offs and to get papers. 1st store got 3 papers, all 3 inserts were in. Got excited about the Kellogs Raisin bran cpn in the Parade mag. (since WE DON'T GET THAT IN WESTERN NY, DON'T GET ME STARTED). So I had him stop and get me two more. Got me a different one, and only P&G and RP were in it, no SS.
We went to the 3rd one, and only P&G was in that... WTH? Anyway, that was weird.
I order inserts online, I can't afford to NOT ORDER THEM, we hardly get any cpns here, and when we do they are so pathetic, most of the time their not worth using...
I so feel your pain!!!!
Did--Yes I am in PA...northeastern corner near Wilkes-Barre. My son goes to college by Erie. H-burg is just under 2 hrs. from here. I'm sorry to hear that the news media dicks around with the insert count down there as well. Maybe it's a PA thing?....we are known for our corruption here, just go ask BIG FAST Eddie Rendell!lolol But then again, NJ and NY are pretty similar when it comes to backroom politics too.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the only reliable newspaper for all the inserts with ALL the good coupons around here in PA is the Philly Sunday paper. They get a full count of inserts and the good Qs that we don't get in the same inserts up here....except all those high value toothpaste Qs we get, they must think we are OCD about our teeth or something here.lol
I have found that this year I have mostly been using Internet printed Qs and not many ManuQs from the inserts, which isn't good since the local grocery stores won't take them, but it's great for Rite-Aid. I've ordered Qs online some this year when there is a good deal but I haven't bought whole inserts except once and those were pricey b/c of the high value Qs that were in that particular insert.
I guess it's always something wherever you live...either you don't have good stores or you don't have good Qs or the stores never have what you want in stock. Sometimes ya can't win....