Coupon Etiquette- Online and Off!

Most people use coupons honestly. Sure, the occasional expired one gets slipped in accidentally, or a coupon you didn't intend to use is taken off your bill. But there are some people that actually set out to cheat companies, both online and offline, by misusing coupons.

By misusing coupons, I mean using them in a way that cheats the company or the store out of money or using the coupon in a way that it wasn't intended to be used. Here are some helpful hints for using coupons correctly online and off.

Online coupons can sometimes be used in interesting ways. For instance, Staples often has coupons for businesses that buy a lot of items. These coupons are very high value- one recent one was $168 off $168. Obviously, Staples doesn't want to hand out free CD-Rs and fax machines to all of their customers. What does this mean to you, the coupon user?

If you have a coupon that is not intended for you to use, don't use it. In other words, the Staples coupons that were intended for a certain group of people were not for the general public. Don't abuse the company by taking advantage of a coupon that wasn't yours to use in the first place. Similarly, some people have been able to hack coupon codes to get big discounts. Again, the coupon code wasn't meant for the general public to use.

Some companies offer coupons for one per household or one per person. What does this mean? Simple- one per household means one for your whole family; one per person means one per person (not one per the family dog, the goldfish, Aunt Ida who doesn't even live with you, etc.) Don't abuse a good deal by ordering 50 of them for yourself and leave none for the others.

Offline couponing is similarly tricky. Since an actual human being is processing the coupon, a big heist like a $168 off $168 Staples coupon is unlikely. But paper coupons can be abused too.

If you have a coupon that requires you to buy two items to get the discount, you have to buy both. If you have a coupon that says "good only on 3.5 lb size," you have to buy the 3.5 lb size to get the discount. If a coupon is expired and your particular store doesn't take expireds, don't use it.

I'm all for a great deal. I've used coupons to get everything from free razors, candy, lipstick, nail polish, and all sorts of other things. But think about it this way: would you steal $10 from a cash register while the checker wasn't looking? Most people wouldn't. So why is stealing with a coupon any different?

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