I have now received 2 separate emails from fellow shoppers and heard from 2 store employees about a new problem that has been occurring in the couponing world. I never really thought I needed a separate post about this, but I keep hearing about different issues. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but you may want to read my previous posts on Ethicial Couponing, Courteous Couponing and Illegal & Inconsiderate Couponing.
The “new” problem? Returning products for the sake of making money.
Let me first say that I don’t think you should not be able to return a product for something you purchased using a coupon. Maybe you purchased the wrong item, realized you didn’t need/like the item or have any other legitimate reason for returning something. I’m talking about when you make a purchase with the intent of returning the item to get back more than you paid.
A couple of examples:
- You go to the store and purchase a Swiffer Duster and refill. You use a buy a duster, get a free refill coupon. You go back and return the duster just because you wanted to get the refill free.
- You head to Walgreens and purchase a bottle of Baby Magic Body Wash advertised as “free after Register Reward”. You later return the baby wash and keep the Register Reward because you only wanted the RR.
Again, I’m talking about when you go to the store and purchase the item just to be able to keep the Register Reward or to get free swiffer dusters.
Please remember that stores DO notice when people are doing this. Yes, the store is still getting reimbursed for the value of the coupon by the manufacturer. However, verification may be made against the number of coupons redeemed and the quantity of an item the store purchased*. Further, we don’t want stores to view coupon users as seeking to take advantage of coupon policy. We want need stores to continue to be coupon friendly.
Additionally, we don’t want stores to start making shoppers jump over hurdles to return an item. Yes, we have already seen changes in many store coupon policies as a direct effect of a certain coupon show. Let’s not add to more negative changes.
*Read more about the Life Cycle of a Coupon
Please remember to use your “big girl words” for any comments whether you agree or disagree with this post.
I TOTALLY agree! Just the other week when I bought some things that I was later having buyer’s remorse over… I was wondering how it would work if I returned these things that I had used a coupon on.
But it never occurred to me that people would actually purposely do this! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the world we live in!
I enjoy using coupons correctly! They save me an incredible amount of money when I use the “system” correctly! So I really don’t understand why people would then waste more of their time to abuse the system just to save a FEW CENTS more! Greed really can consume people, I guess.
Sadly I heard about this problem from a friend of mine who works at a local CVS. She told me that when the $3 off 2 Pantene coupon came out they had Pantene returns everyday to put back from people who had used the coupon and received ECB for the purchase. It really is sad how greedy people are, I hope they don’t waste it for the rest of us who coupon correctly. 🙂
Really sad. If the person doing this would just stop and think…..how much money did you lose burning gasoline to get into the car and take this stuff back? How ridiculous. Waste of time and effort…for you and the store and factor in the gasoline and realize that you really did not save anything.
I do this all the time hey it’s free money you can’t complain . all it takes is a little time and effort and a bit of not giving a f*** of what somebody thinks in the back of the line of you or what the cashier who is processing your return things or believe you’re doing just do it like it’s not a problem the manufacturer is already setting money aside for that
I BOUGHT ON SALE LEAF BLOWERS FOR 26 BUCKS.. THEN RETURNED THEM IN FALL FOR 119 BUCKS….NO ONE QUESTIONED HOW I HAD 23 LEAF BLOWERS….
That is just another form of stealing . I coupon to be able to donate and it really upsets me when people can’t go by the rules. It could very well cause more store policy changes.
How is it in anyway a form of stealing if the store gets reimburst for the $ lost coupon does not get voided they still get the money from the manufacturer.
I work retail LP and people make lots of money buying stuff with manufacturer coupons and returning them later. A few make a living doing this, it seems. You buy three boxes of Crest whitestrips with manufacturer coupons for $10 off, you return the items later with the receipt and get back what you paid plus the coupons value – you made an easy $30! Now imagine what people get back when they buy several boxes of whitestrips, plus other things like shavers and cleaning items with coupons. The thing is, the store is reimbursed for the value of the coupon. The manufacturer coupon counts as cash. It’s just people exploiting a coupon policy to their own advantage without actually hurting the store. I would call it a victimless crime, only there’s nothing illegal about it. Stores can inconvenience the people who do these returns by limiting the number of coupons per transaction or refunding the coupon value as a store gift card, but at no time will the person find themselves charged with a crime.
I agree, it isn’t a crime. Stores do get reimbursed for the coupons but it’s more of an ethical issue to me. Plus, if people are purchasing these items only to return, then they are taking away from people that actually need/use these items and aren’t trying to make a quick buck off the manufacture.
i did this the other day actually. i bought some stuff at the store and i had a little bit of buyers remorse i really didn’t want to spent that much. i hadn’t left the parking lot yet so i went back in to return a few items. i got more than i paid for ( i was surprised) but the next time i went in the store super got in my face and told me that if he wanted to he could call the cops and i would go to jail he called it coupon fraud.
How can these people be stopped from doing this? I have seen $$$ made from people returning high dollar items that that have 5 or 10 dollar coupons.
I work in a retail store. We have one woman who uses approximately $100 in coupons every sunday. We open a register just to accommodate her since it takes so long. After the purchase, she walks directly to our service desk and returns everything she used a coupon for. Weekly $100 profit for her. Those days, no loss for us except the 1-1/2 hours of our emotes time. The problem is when she does the return after leaving the store for a while. Certain pharmacy or health items cannot be resold of they leave the building. So those items ARE a loss to the store. Plus that’s not the intent of couponing, to make a profit. This will cause retailers to restrict or change their coupon policy, that will have an effect on everyone using them.
I am pretty much at a lose for words and just think “wow”! It’s unfortunate for someone to try to take advantage of the system like that.
Is this “loophole” any different than couponing customers using multiple transactions in order to bypass the “limit” rule in regards to buying several of the same item?
Technically, both are wrong and against coupon policy. My point here is that instead of people doing multiple transactions to buy more items to use or donate, they are scamming the store to make a buck.
I honestly see no problem in doing this. Bad things happen to good people, people lose their jobs some people lose everything, and you still need to find a way to feed yourself at the end of the day. 10 from doing this can buy you groceries, or pay the copay at a doctors visit. It’s not like dealing drugs were you gain off of the suffering and pain of others, it’s taking a miniscule amount of money from billion dollar companies to survive. The companies sure as hell are not suffering no one is getting hurt, no blood is being spilled and no one’s kid is being turned into a druggie. When money is tight and as long as you don’t overdo it I don’t see a problem at all. These cooporations should be helping those who they hired and laid off and are too greedy to even allow unemployment to.
im a lawyer and I have a customer that has been through this
its not against the law,infact the store managet harassed my client for calling police on him
in return I just talked fro 30 seconds to that manager,he not only was real sorry but also gave my client a gift certificate. case closed
my client makes almost 3000/month doing this perfectly legal
im a lawyer and I really don’t like when people start giving their legal opinions
Thank you for your feedback. No where in my article did I provide legal opinions or advice. I also did not say it is illegal to return items purchased with a coupon. My personal opinion is that it is unethical and not a good practice for coupon users.
Wow!! Do you think this is legal in every state? Or would this pertain to certain states.. I live in Texas and the loss prevention manager hates couponers that return items fir profit.. Ive done it before with no problem but I am looked at like im going to get arrested! Can it happend?
I’m with the guy that believes in hard times you should be able to do anything you want that is not illegal to keep putting food on your table for your family no matter how unethical and how much bad practice it is it could be worse things in the world you could do for a few bucks
I have been couponing for about three years now it slowly started coming to me how I could return the -75% item or the buy one get one free item(s). Different ways on how to save over and over again just win win . Times when I had literally less than $5 in my pocket and could go to CVS and come out with new makeup and a snack and some…. . It has helped me in so many ways as my family and I have been having financial hardships. If we could all just forget it’s just paper when we should all have the same equal and think about each other not paper coming in between being and living comfortably.
Laura Topete, wow… the things you convince yourself of.
“If we could all just forget it’s just paper”
You want to FORGET it’s just paper?
“think about each other not paper coming in between”
LOL this “paper” has an agreed upon value which written on the bill in case you forget.
“being and living comfortably.”
A.K.A. “stealing”