Did you know that if you email me, message or leave a comment I do my absolute best to answer you! Sometimes I miss one or two- and if I miss you- ask again! That said, when I get the same basic question multiple times in a week I may use the question to share with everyone. Here’s one that has been showing up lately:
I found a coupon online that is a PDF. Is it a valid coupon I should print? If so, how many can I print out?
The answer to this is a little complicated. Generally, manufacturer coupons are not going to be distributed in PDF format. There are some very rare exceptions but most valid coupons are going to be sent out via a printing service such as Smart Source, Red Plum, or Coupons.com (Bricks). Any PDF coupon that is given to you directly from the manufacturer is probably going to be a valid coupon. Again, it is pretty rare for them to send a PDF coupon, but it does happen.
If you find a PDF coupon uploaded to a deal blog or forum, I would suggest not printing it. Most likely that coupon was provided to a single individual for their use and then someone saved the coupon and uploaded online. To me, this isn’t kind to the manufacturer. They sent that coupon to person X who then saved it and re-distributed it 100, 1000 or even 10,000 people….not what the manufacturer intended. Similar to if I sent you a “coupon” for a free foot massage (now don’t really expect that because I am not sending those out!). You took the coupon I sent that was meant just for you- and uploaded it online. Suddenly my phone is ringing off the hook with people wanting their foot massages. I wouldn’t be happy and there are going to be a lot of disappointed people not getting foot rubs.
If someone emails you a PDF version of a coupon that they want to share with you, again it is not one that I would suggest printing or attempting to use. We don’t know the origins of the coupon and I’d prefer to miss a deal than to use a fake coupon and have my store pay the price by not getting reimbursed.
If you do receive a valid PDF coupon straight from a manufacturer, I personally stick to the Limit 2 rule. Coupons.com and other printable sites limit our prints to 2 per device. So I stay with that rule with PDF coupons unless the manufacturer states otherwise.
In general, I really believe that it is important that we keep the manufacturers in mind when using coupons. We want to keep coupons coming and all it takes is one really bad experience for a company to decide couponers are not worth the trouble and stop giving us coupons!
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