When I saw this coupon I honestly (sadly) wasn’t surprised! In a red box in red letters it says “Cashier- Please verify purchase. Use of this coupon without proper purchase constitutes fraud.”
This coupon is very specific about which Crest 3D WhiteStrips the coupon is valid for use on. P&G has added lots of verbiage to their coupons to specify how their coupons are to be use:
-Limit 4 per household per day.
-Limit one coupon per purchase.
-Coupons not authorized if purchasing products for resale.
P&G offers some of the best coupons- from Pampers, Crest, all their razors, Pantene & other products. They offer so many coupons that they put out their own coupon insert once a month and still offer additional coupons throughout the month in the Smart Source & Red Plum inserts.
That said, from what I have seen P&G coupons are some of the most misued coupons (such as using a razor AND refill coupon on just the razor )
I think that this is just the beginning of extra verbiage on coupons to try and alert cashiers and stores when coupons are commonly misused. While the store may be reimbursed for the misused coupon, the manufacturer will be the one who loses money. If they put a high value coupon (this one is $7) on a product that is normally $35 or more- they budget that into their finances. But if they only sell 2 of those products and get 5,000 coupons back they know that the stores were taking the coupons on products that were not included in the coupon offer. And their balances won’t add up. Then the manufacturer becomes unhappy.
Then several things could happen:
(1) We see smaller coupon values- suddenly that $7 coupon turns into a $1 coupon
(2) We see LESS or no coupons from that manufacturer or for that product.
(3) We see LOTS OF RED WORDS on the coupons. For most couponers, this isn’t a big issue because the coupons are being used properly. But it adds a layer of frustration when an uninformed employee tries to decipher a coupon and can’t determine if the coupon is appropriate or not. It can create mistrust between the stores & couponers.
When coupons are super specific (and most P&G coupons are) it’s usually simple to follow the terms of the coupon but red words worry me….is this the last step before they stop offering coupons?? What do you think?
Yikes! Thanks so much for the coupon news update.
In am a couponer and I read each and every coupon I use before I get to register. I want to make doubly sure that I’m not misusing one, however mistakes happen. I apologize when I make a mistake, but it is an honest one. The people who purposely misuse coupons are the ones that will make it harder for us. Don’t like red letter boxes. I coupon because I have to and my friend has found a way to make it fun. So when I see someone purposely misuse a coupon I will call them out on it. Loudly! Thanks for keeping us posted!
Since we are talking a bit about coupon ethics here…I have a question. I am new to couponing. While picking up my Sunday paper today from a local retailer, I noticed a woman taking coupon inserts out of the papers and placing them into the papers she was purchasing. I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she was adding a coupon insert that was missing from her paper. She said there should be two inserts and hers only had one. Is this ok? Every ounce of me thinks this is not a good idea, but perhaps I’m missing something.
Why didnt she just buy that paper instead? Sounds like she was stealing inserts which. Is theft and illegal
I think this lady was stealing! I always stand at the box and check the paper and IF the insert is missing, I put the entire paper back in and get another paper that DOES have the inserts…
Soon we won’t be allowed to stack coupons at the rate that is being misused….they’ll have to open up a rehab facility to re-train our brains to not coupon any more lol