Supercouponing Tips: Printable coupons have a hook
DEAR JILL: Sometimes I go online and see a link to a printable coupon that I want to use. When I click the link, I get a message, "Sorry, this coupon is out of print." But I never got a chance to print it. Why would it be out of print? — SARAH G.
DEAR SARAH: Print-at-home coupons seem simple enough. Select the coupons you want and print them out immediately. On a major coupon website (such as coupons.com, smartsource.com, redplum.com or couponnetwork.com), you'll usually be able to select a coupon and print it without a problem. But printable coupons can come with a catch. Occasionally, after selecting your coupon and clicking print, a message alerts you that this coupon has reached its print limit or the coupon's campaign is over.
How could a coupon have reached its print limit if you didn't print it? While most printable coupons are limited to two prints per computer, there is another issue you may not be aware of: global print limits. When a manufacturer posts a printable coupon, it can also set a specified number of prints. Once this limit is reached, the campaign is over. Anyone else trying to print the coupon will receive a message that there are no more prints available.
If you receive the message, "This coupon's print campaign is over," something similar has happened. The coupon may not have hit its limit, but the ccampaign time has passed. A manufacturer may decide to end a promotion on a specific date and the coupon will no longer be available.
To avoid this, print any coupons you're interested in as soon as you come across them. I like to log onto my favorite coupon sites early in the week, Sunday or Monday, to look for new coupons to print. By the middle of the week, the best and highest-value offers may be gone.
DEAR JILL: A few sites I visit let me load e-coupons onto my shopper's card. But sometimes I see a coupon I want to add to the card, and I get a message that it's sold out. What do I have to do to get it? — KENNETH D.
DEAR KENNETH: Electronic coupons, or e-coupons, are growing in popularity. Many supermarkets and drugstores offer e-coupons on their websites and some national coupon websites allow shoppers to load e-coupons to a store's loyalty card viacomputers or smartphone apps. Then, when a loyalty card is scanned in the checkout, the e-coupons are deducted automatically — no scissors needed!
E-coupons also have limits. If a store or manufacturer releases a great offer and the desired number of shoppers load it onto their cards, the offer is sold out. It's worth visiting your favorite electronic coupon sites regularly to search for new e-coupons. That way, you can load them before their limits have been reached.
Jill Cataldo, a coupon workshop instructor, writer and mother of three, never passes up a good deal. Learn more about couponing at her website, www.jillcataldo.com. Email your own couponing victories and questions to jill@ctwfeatures.com.
