Manufacture v Store Coupons

A lot of people do not know there is a difference between a manufacture coupon and a store coupon. When they see a coupon they think they can redeem it wherever they buy the product it is associated with, however there is a big difference between the two. Let’s start with manufacturer coupons first then we will go on to store coupons.

Alot of manufacture coupons come from the inserts in the Sunday newspaper, such as: Smart Source, P&G and Red Plum, however you can retrieve quite a few coupons out of magazines too. But, I have found that it is more plentiful if you print your own coupons from home. These are called print-at-home or internet coupons. There are several internet coupon distributor companies out there, such as: coupons.com, redplum.com, smartsource.com, eversave.com, couponsurfer.com and etc… These companies require you to sign-up for a weekly or monthly newsletter about available coupons for “FREE”. All you will have to do is download there coupon generator toolbar and then you are off to clipping and printing your way to savings. However, there are a few more ways you can get manufacturer coupons without having to purchase a newspaper or magazine, such as: going directly to the manufacture themselves and signing up for there monthly newsletter and taking a quick survey about there products. This is how manufacturers learn who is buying there products and why they are buying them and for doing so they offer their customers “FREE” coupons. Alot of grocery stores have Smart Source blinkie machines, peelie displays, hanger displays or the tearpad displays in front of the products they have coupons associated with.  Any of these coupons will say “manufacture coupon” and you can redeem them at any store that accepts coupons and sells that particular product. Manufacture coupons always has an expiredation date on them and stores generally will not accept them after that date.

With any of the manufacture coupons that you redeem, the store that accepted the coupon gets reimbursed the face value of the coupon and $.08 per coupon for a handling fee. All they have to do is mail them either to a coupon handling company to be sorted and counted by manufacture or directly to the manufacture address on the coupon. Either way they are repaid for the face value of the coupon. They do not lose one penny of their profit… matter of fact they make $.08 per coupon. However, you can not nessicarily say that about store coupons.

Store coupons can be found on just about any stores website, store weekly circular or at a display within the store. Sometimes, you will be lucky and find a deal between a manufacture and a store on a manufacture website, such as: between Kraft Foods and Publix this week. There are two different kinds of store coupons. There is the coupon that is “so much off your total order” and then there is the normal coupon like a manufacture coupon, but it just says “store coupon” instead of “manufacture coupon” . Whenever a store offers their customers an in-store coupon, they have worked out a deal with the manufacture at a special price and they are passing the savings on to you the customer through a coupon. They generally are not losing any money but instead making some: (ex: Wal-Green’s buy $800.00 worth of Listerine Mouthwash at $2.00 a bottle and they offer a coupon for $2.00/1 in their store ad. They normally sell it for $4.99 each, they bought it for $2.00 each, and offering a $2.00 off coupon. They are still making $.99 per bottle with coupon redeemed but they are making $2.99 a bottle profit for every bottle sold without a coupon.) So either way, the stores are still making a profit on there products.

You have some stores such as, Publix that will honor other store coupons (known as competitor coupons). When Publix accepts a competitor coupon for particular items, they do not get reimbursed for those coupons. They lose that amount of money, but they generally have enough profit built into an item to cover the loss.

Needless to say, look closely at your coupons before you go shopping because you can use a store coupon in conjunction with a manufacture coupon for additional savings. This is called stacking coupons and more will come on that subject. Also know what your favorite store policies are on accepting coupons. Depending on if they accept competitor coupons or double coupons might make a difference in where you shop. “Saving is the name of the Game”