How to Win Friends with Coupons

We stop by Hobby Lobby once a month or so -- either to buy some sort of small box/treasure chest to give as a gift (with gold $1 coins) or for craft supplies for my daughter. For us, the rules for shopping there are as follows:

• Never buy at regular price -- their regular prices are ridiculously high. I would never buy something there at the normal price unless it was a very low cost (a couple bucks) or rare item that couldn't be found elsewhere.
• Buy on sale if you can -- Hobby Lobby has several large departments/sections of the store on sale every week. These are usually 50% off and are rotated around week to week. This is when we usually buy our blessing boxes.
• Buy with a coupon if you can't get it on sale -- Sometimes we need something right away and it isn't on sale. No matter, we subscribe to Hobby Lobby's email coupon list and almost every week we get a 40% off coupon good on whatever we want (non-sale items). Not as good as a 50% off sale, but close. There is a limit of one coupon per person, so we usually print off four of them -- one for each of us. Then if we need to, each person can pay for an item separately, allowing us to buy up to four items at 40% off.

We needed some items recently, so we printed off our coupons and headed to the store. Luckily, all but one of the items we wanted was on sale at 50% off. As we checked out and were ready to leave, my wife turned to the next guy in line and asked if he had a coupon for his item (it was some sort of crafting tool -- looked like it was about a $20 item). He said something like, "No, they don't have coupons for these." My wife handed him one of the extra coupons we had and he said "thanks" softly since he didn't know what it was.

He read it quickly as we were walking away and realized that my wife had just saved him a decent amount of money. He yelled after us something like, "Hey, thanks a lot!" very enthusiastically and we could hear him talking and laughing with his friends about how much he was going to save. It was a nice feeling to help him out.

Anyone else ever done this? Or perhaps you're a bit more premeditated than we were. Anyone do this ON PURPOSE (print out coupons in advance with the intention of giving them to people) rather than by chance like we did?

Comments

[Jonathan]

While this is a nice story, I find humor in the irony - you "made friends" with someone who's name you don't know and you'd likely not even recognize if you saw him on the street next week. On the other hand, if the store owner or manager happened to see this exchange, he may not be as pleased! And you see him every month! :)

[Claire]

Yes, if I have a coupon I'm not using and I see someone else who could, I'll pass it along. I've done it in the grocery store, I've also done it at places like Bed, Bath & Beyond - I always have a stash of coupons for that store.

[G]

I actually do this same thing with Redbox movie codes as many of them can be used more than once. I just turn and hand it to the person behind me in line.

[KaseyD]

Yes. I've also done it at Bed Bath and Beyond and twice at Safeway when I had 10% off entire purchase coupons that expired Christmas eve, I handed one to a man with a full basket of food and two young children in tow, and the other to an elderly couple.

The BB&B coupons seem to multiply like rabbits, so it is easy to hand them out when I see someone in line with me who is making a large purchase.

@ Jonathan, maybe you are too cynical. These are called "random acts of kindness". If the manager got upset perhaps I wouldn't want to shop there. (And, why should he get upset? The coupons are a marketing tool, I don't think her/his performace is rated negatively on the use of coupons.)

[MonkeyMonk]

I do this all the time with coupons at the grocery store. If I decide to not use the coupon or that I don't want the product I just leave the coupon next to the items in the store. I've found quite a few coupons this way too.

[Jody]

I've never printed off extra copies of a coupon to hand out...hmm maybe I will next time. If I have a coupon for something I am not going to buy I will sometimes put it with the product in the store so someone who is going to buy it can save the money. (I'm in Canada so coupons here are pretty rare).

[Mary Kay]

We receive two copies of the Sunday paper so I usually have two Michael's coupons and two JoAnns coupons each week. Both stores accept competitors coupons. I often give away an extra coupon when I'm in line at Michaels. I have also share coupons for dishwashing detergent in line at Wal-Mart, the coupon covered the cost of the item.

[Holly]

I like to give $10 off coupons that I get in the mail to go along with a gift card; just did that recently when I gave a JcP gift card to my mom.

[Barb]

I am a cashier at a home improvement store: and I have randomly given coupons (ones I receive by mail)to customers $10.00 off $50.00 purchase. Just my way of helping someone........

[Mike]

When we get redbox, I'll look up promo codes ahead of time. I'll usually write down 10 or 15 since they don't always work at all locations. After I use the code, I leave the list on the redbox kiosk for the next person.