F is for FREE

One of the biggest things that bothers me about couponing is that is uses “special math”.  For example- a $5 product that gives a $5 coupon back is considered FREE.  Well, it’s really not.  We paid $5 in cash out of our pockets- that’s not free.  I try to remember when posting deals to put “Free after rewards” but it’s one of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started out.  I was running around grabbing up all these “free” items only to find out that I had really spent $100 and had $90 in “rewards”. 

Another mistake I failed to calculate for was TAX.  Yes, in most areas you will have to pay tax on the BEFORE COUPON price.  Yep, so that “free” box of hair color will still cost cold, hard cash because the tax man is getting his money!  So be sure to calculate that into your scenarios. 7% tax can really add up!

One recent example that made me wince was this scenario from a Walgreens promotion:

The deal was: Buy a Male Enhancement pill for $10 get a $10 Register Reward.  Coupon math: FREE!  Regular math: Ummm..my husband would KILL me if I was caught in public buying that.

Many people were buying it up because it was “free”.  They were paying $10 at the register PLUS Tax.  In my area that is 7% so $10.70 and getting $10 back.  So it wasn’t really free- it was 70¢

While I support Charitable giving 100% think long and hard about picking up these types of “free” items- I couldn’t think of a single place that would really be able to use this donation.

You can find the previous ABCs:
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