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Coupon mailers and booklets: trash or treasure? (POLL)
Posted on August 6, 2010 By 4 Comments
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Colorado Springs Coupons, Grocery Deals, And More
Actually, I don’t throw them in the trash. I do recycle them; but there’s never anything in them that I can use, or that I can’t find somewhere else.
I think a lot of those mailers depend on disposable income, which not a lot of us have. I have been crazy over an air conditioner however, and the best time is to combine one of the coupons with the winter deals, before the end of the year for the tax credit too! We use portables, especially this year since I get so nauseated in the heat, and next summer we’ll have a couple more babies in the home. Figuring out the final cost, after coupons, rebates and tax breaks to install versus our bills in the summer, it will pay for itself by the end of next summer!
A lot of the food deals are just too out of the way for us, or they are at restaurants that aren’t exactly the cheapest to begin with. Occasionally, there are car wash or good oil change coupons in there too. The key is “good”. I’d still say at least 90% of them aren’t worth anything to us though.
Mary, I’m curious – have you ever used coupons for things like air conditioning or household repairs, and did you find that they simply upped the price to compensate for the coupon? I’ve never used a coupon like that (we, too, are pining for an AC) and wonder if it’s really a discount at all.
Carrie, I have a few times, but I get estimates long before they know I’m military or have a coupon. I don’t mention anything, just ask for a straight up estimate, then once I have it in written form, I add either/or/and of the two discounts (depending on the company, on whether discounts and coupons will stack) to that on my own figures when comparing estimates. I intend to do this with the a/c unit we are looking at as well. Sometimes the coupon can really come in handy, other times, there is just another company willing to go lower. Once I have a few estimates, I’ll call the highest places and ask if they will come down and go through the circle.
In one case for our furnace repair, I was able to get it down to almost 50% off the labor in original estimates by calling the companies and letting them know X company was willing to do this for $400, can you go lower? Then I’d call the next and tell them I got that company to go to $380. Not every company will work with you of course. Having the names and contacts of the company is imperative to this working it seems. I do not do this first then ask for a coupon though. By working the estimates, adding coupons, then calling around, I was able to take a $500 repair down to $335. Just over $150 of that was the part itself. It may sound tedious but for about 90 minutes worth of calling, I “made” $165!
I intend to use this process for the a/c unit in a few months when their time is a bit slower.