Couponing question: One per purchase versus one per transaction

Christina emailed me with this question:

I know you can’t use 2 manufacturers coupons for one item, but can you use 2 different manufactures coupons for 2 of the same product at the same time?  For example, today I used 2 manufacturer’s coupons on 2 boxes of granola bars at the same time.  When I got home, I happened to read the fine print on one of my coupons that said “One coupon per purchase of specified product.”  Then as I looked at other coupons, almost all of them said something similar.  So, if I wanted to stock up due to a good deal, would I need to go through the line and make seperate purchases each time for each coupon that is for the same kind of item?

Hi, Christina!  Almost every coupon has one of two stipulations on it; they’ll either say “one coupon per purchase” or it will say “one coupon per transaction”.

The first stipulation, one coupon per purchase, simply means that you can only use one coupon per purchase of an item.  They want to prevent you from thinking you can buy one box of granola bars and use two manufactuer’s coupon on the same item.  You should be able to use one coupon per item purchased.  Of course, if the coupon is for “$1 off the purchase of two” you’ll need to buy two and you can only use one coupon for those two products.

The second stipulation sometimes found on coupons is one coupon per transaction, and that does mean that if you want to use multiple of the same coupons, you’ll need to make several trips to the store, or at least do multiple transactions.  I will say that most of the time the cashier and computer system doesn’t pay any attention to that language, but in order to be honest, we need to abide by the verbage on the coupon.  If it states one coupon per transaction, then that’s what the manufacturer intended and you should not go against it just because it “works”.