Revisiting the Golden Rule

I feel an introduction is necessary before I dive into my first post, but I have already pretty much summed up my couponing indoctrination on my personal blog. So, to save time (and my sanity!), have a look at this post for everything you ever wanted to know about me (okay, perhaps not everything-but all the pertinent stuff!).

Now that we have been formally introduced (well, sort of), let me tell you about my very interesting shopping trip this morning. Armed with a well planned out shopping list, my handy dandy coupon binder and my Albertsons doublers (yippee!), I stepped into my local Albertsons (Overland/Five Mile) to begin my bargain hunting. I had forgotten my weekly Albertsons ad in the car, so I went to grab another from the stand at the front of the store, only to discover the entire stand, newspapers, ads and all, was gone.

I maneuvered my cart to Customer Service to beg one off of them. Two managers happened to be standing behind the Customer Service desk. Because I was shopping at the store that I frequent most often, I was familiar with both of them. One I loved; the other I typically avoided like the plague. It was Mr. Crankypants that piped up. He informed me, before I ever mentioned anything about using the doublers, that I could only use 1 set of 3 per day. Period.

Now keep in mind that in easy to understand English, the coupon states just that. And so I would have thought nothing of his comment, except that during their last doubler promo, I had approached the other manager, Ms. Couponfriendly, and asked how her store was handling them. I respect the decision of store management, so I wanted to know how to plan my shopping trip. Did they only want us to use one set per day? Did they want us to walk out to the car, drop off our first purchase, before returning to use a second set of doublers? She told me that I didn't even need to walk out to my car; just separating my transactions when checking out would do.

So this morning, when Mr. Crankypants told me something completely different than what I had been told last time, I was frustrated. I explained to him that I loved Alberstons and that, as a couponer, I expected no red-carpet treatment. But what I would appreciate is some sort of consistency. Every time I step foot into that Alberstons, there is a different cashier spouting off a different set of coupon rules. My head spins trying to keep up. I also told him that it was hard to return to a store where I was harassed almost every time I shopped, in lieu of finding a more "coupon friendly" Albertsons. I told him I would respect his policy and only use 1 set of doublers, and I walked away to continue shopping.

About 5 minutes later, he found me in the aisle. He apologized, and explained where he was coming from. He said there had been an explosion of coupon fraud at their location, and that a few dishonest couponers were giving the rest of us a bad name. He said it had gotten so bad that, just that morning they were forced to move the entire newspaper rack behind the Customer Service counter because people were raiding the papers, stealing the doublers and the inserts, and leaving the papers behind. He also explained that their coupon policy was changing almost weekly, and he was even having trouble keeping up, much less trying to keep his cashiers trained correctly.

I told him that I absolutely understood where he was coming from, and I, like most couponers I knew, was just trying to save my family money in the most honest way I knew how. I did not want to cause any contention, nor violate any store policy. He ended the conversation by asking that any problems I had, or any problems that I heard about via the coupon blogosphere, be brought to his attention so he could work to correct it.

I left the store with a million thoughts running through my pea-sized brain, not the least of which was, I'm gonna have to give Mr. Crankypants a new nickname, because that was a pretty stand-up thing to do!

Are there really couponers out there who have such disregard for personal integrity that they would be willing to ruin it for the rest of us? Are there couponers so desperate for a good deal that they would rob newspapers of inserts in plain view? Are there couponers who try, at every turn, to bend the rules until they completely shatter, leaving the rest of us honest couponers to pick up the pieces?

I would like to answer no to all of the above, but I know that would make me naive. I guess I just feel the need to stress the importance of couponing with integrity. There will always be another great deal, so don't try to cheat the system for fear there won't be. Even slight dishonestly can hurt your fellow couponers, and perhaps ruin a really good thing.

Couponing is great. Finding a FabuLESS deal is awesome. Saving money ROCKS! But let's all try to go about our bargain hunting the right way!