stlcouponwizard

During my last Waggin adventure in one of the sixteen Walgreens I visited I stopped to have a discussion with a night manager, one that I have not had a discussion with. We talked about stocking and shopping, in the discussion I learned that this manager had in fact managed at several of the stores I shop on a regular basis. During this conversation the subject of extremes came up and how Walgreens handled these shoppers. We all know my thoughts on this subject, that Walgreens has and always have had the tools to keep this type of shopper in line and under control. I don’t blame the managers for the lack of enforcement of these rules although in some cases the blame should in fact fall there. Even if these few enforced the known coupon policies they would have been overridden by the corporate office when the shopper complained to them. As the conversation moved to a point were my shopping behavior became the subject. At this point I was called an extreme coupon user, well I’m bettin you can guess what my reaction was.

I of course went right into how I differ from what I consider to be an extreme shopper. Most of you all know my thoughts on this subject and what I consider “Extreme”. Let me explain this for those of you that have not read this. Extremes are wanting to make a name for themselves buy scoring the mother lode as the shoppers on TLC’s Extreme Couponing do. We the people that have used coupons responsibly know that this is not possible at any store anywhere. They look to empty the shelf just because they can, they think. They in no way have any consideration for any other shopper coupon user or not. They may know the rules but rather than work to find the way to get the best deals staying inside these rules they work on ways to get around the rules. They are rude when stopped by the checker/manager right or wrong. I believe that is a fair and clear assessment of what I have seen in many stores. To be fair I have also seen shoppers trying to score that same mother lode without being rude but not many.

I shop very differently; I do not clear shelves, that are not to say that when I enter a store and there is only one of the product on the shelf I leave it. I grab that sucker and head to the next aisle to find my next product. I work hard to find a way to score my deals, not what I see on TV all of which are within the published coupon policy of the store. I have indeed displayed my angry side to a store associate before, once or twice in my years of coupon use. Even when I lose a discussion I thank the store associate and smile at the end of the transaction even though I was right, not right or wrong. I do call Walgreens Customer Service when I was mis-treated or deprived of a deal instead of raising my voice and screaming at the checkout lane. I impose limits on my purchases, limits that will allow me to fulfill my savings plan. I spend less than any extreme coupon user I have ever seen, if I had to spend the kind of money these want to be extreme coupon users spend to feel good I would stop watching the show and stay home.

You see a bit of difference there? I thought so. This manager then explained to me that regardless of those facts I was still extreme. This time around he changed his description from an extreme coupon user to extreme. He explained that I go way beyond what the average coupon shopper in the way I shop. Okay he got me there and that is why I am asking your opinion on this matter. I value the opinion of a coupon user much more than an opinion of a manager of a retail store. Not that his opinion is not worth listening to, in fact I listen to them quite often regardless of if I agree or not.

What is extreme for a coupon user, is it not our goal to save our money. Am I that far out there and deserve that label? If you had 100 Walgreens within Driving distance would you take advantage of them like I do? Don’t think this managers opinion will change my shopping style because it won’t. Just between you and me this is a manager that let these people go, he allowed them to do 20 transactions at one time for the hope of increased sales not thinking far enough ahead to realize the complaints were to quickly follow from his regular customers. So instead of pissing of only the extreme shoppers by stopping them, he first pissed of his regular customers by allowing this behavior and then he pissed of the extremers when he was forced to enforce the printed rules and stopping the extremers at a later point.

Neal Miller

stlcouponwizard@gmail.com