The commissary is threatening to revoke the shopping privileges of crazy couponers who play the system a little too well.
According to this statement, the commissary will no longer be tolerating shoppers who buy “excessive quantities” just to rack up an “overage,” or money back.
A couponing “overage” occurs when the value of the coupon exceeds the price of an item, resulting in the shopper actually being paid to buy the product. Extreme couponers rely on this method to bring down their grocery bill for other items for which they do not have coupons. The commissary is one of the few grocery stores that will actually give a shopper literal cash back at the end of a purchase if the overages exceed the total bill.
So, for example, if you bought 30 bottles of mustard at $.50 each and had a coupon for $1 off each, the checker would literally hand you $15 at the end of your order.
The new policy labels that practice as potentially abusive, and draws the line at 36 units or three cases of any given product. Those who buy more than that amount with coupons will be red flagged as potential abusers. If the behavior continues they could be blocked from shopping at the commissary at all.
This change should only impact those who use extreme amounts of coupons at the commissary, a subject we’ve talked about here before. Those of us who use a few coupons every time for small but consistent shavings shouldn’t notice any change at all.
A second change will also likely only impact extreme shoppers. Rather than handing shoppers actual cash back at the end of a large overage transaction, the commissary will limit cash back to $25. Anything over that will be put on a commissary gift card.
About Amy Bushatz
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As a shopper who regularly uses coupons to get anywhere from 30-50% off of our weekly grocery bill at the commissary, I disagree with the idea of handing consumers cash. I think a commissary gift card is completely appropriate, and *wish* I could get them!!!
I use to work for the commissary and I can tell you first hand how annoying that was knowing these customers were abusing the coupons! A lot of the time what they were doing was buying the travel size item and that is why the overage would be so much. I don’t mind scanning 100+ coupons but when the customer is standing there smiling know they’re getting over it sucks and it’s annoying. Management hated it so I’m glad they will monitor now
What's the problem? The companies reimburse the stores for the coupons.
Yeah they reimburse the coupon for .50 not the money the cashier doles out for overages.
Incorrect. If I walk in and use a $2.00 coupon on an item that only costs $1.00, not only do they get the full $2.00's back for the full value of the coupon they also MAKE a handling fee too. Most of the time it's $0.08, but I've seen it as high as $0.12-$0.15.
Your information is absolutely false—they make everything back in overages they pay out, otherwise they wouldn't/couldn't give overages because DECA is a "Not-for-Profit" Government Business. They do not have the profit to coverage that type of debt…so, the next time you'd like to speak on information you know absolutely nothing about, at least know the facts first.
ACTUALLY i don't have a clue where you guys are shopping, but here in Groton you can't get money back PERIOD. They will take it off your existing bill, but you can not get money back.
Yes, they will apply overages to your bill, but if your coupons make your bill negative, they have no choice, but to refund you whether it's cash or a gift card. It's DECA's policy, and stores are no allowed to make up their own policies.
Kelly you are 100% correct. How in the world do people NOT understand how this works?!? And the stores who do not give you that overage are pocketing extra money off us. Which is really crappy.
They should just do away with the overages. Most places will only take off the item cost so if you have a coupon for 1.00 off mustard and the mustard is .75 then only .75 is deducted. I think thats a fine system. People who coupon extreme or clear shelves are ruining it for everyone else. You shouldnt make money at the end of the transaction thats not fair to the store or to to other shoppers as the policy is most likely going to be changed pronto. It's just people being greedy.
How is it bad for the stores? They make money off coupons via handling charges the companies send them when they mail in the coupons for reimbursement, and when the store doesn't return the overage to the customer, they're making that much more. So what I see you saying is that you think I should put time and energy into clipping coupons to save my family money so the grocery store can make money off me, without having to work for it? Because they already do that by being paid $0.08-$0.15 per coupon……….and no, I do not condone shelf clearing at all.
When I first started in the military, my wife and I saved coupons like they were gold. We'd go to Little Creek Commissary shopping and our coupons would pay for the surcharge.
I think this is a good policy and a change for the better. Here in Ft Sam Houston the change has already been posted and reflects the policy stated in the article.
As for extreme couponing I find it irritating, especially when my Sunday paper comes up missing.
3 cases???? What are they buying for? Their entire neighborhood (most of whom probably aren't eligible)….or a business (which is also illegal). We use coupons too, but we don't abuse the concept. I agree with some others – no 'extra' cash back; coupon value only up to the total cost. I also think the maximum number should be reduced to no more than a case A(actually, I'd opt for 4-6 units). I have a decent-size house, and no way could I store cases upon cases of goods, nor do I have (or I suspect these power-buyers) 10-20 big freezers to store the double-full shopping carts of meat I see being taken out of the commissary. Maybe rationing should be implemented……but abuse of the privilege needs to be punished.
Even non-couponers buy cases of things…it's very unfair to assume only couponers don't. I coupon for myself and soldiers within my husband's unit, I live in an on-base house and still have plenty of room to stockpile cases when needed. It's not abuse of a privilege as long as you're not re-selling or providing it to non-DECA eligible shoppers.
I so hartily agree with this. The excess is just ridiculous and shoud be stopped. I don't use coupons on a regular basis or even shop at the commissary on a regular basis but often if I happen to have a coupon I find that item unavailable. I appreciate the things we have because of our husband's or wives being in the military and don't think anyone should take advantage of the system.
Sophia, I know there are plenty of retirees that will hit a commissary three or four hours away and stock up maybe 4-5 times a year – so they REALLY stock up and buy things by the case. That way they have enough cream of chicken (or whatever) to last them a few months. Also, squadron booster clubs will buy sodas and snacks by the case before a drill weekend to stock their pantries. Most currently serving families I know won't buy a ridiculous amount, just because we'd inevitably have to move it in a year or two if we don't go through everything!
I agree with the commissaries change in policy. It seems that the motivation for extreme couponers is the high from getting things free and getting money that they didn't exactly earn through employment. People buy food and supplies to take care of themselves. The goal is not to have more than everyone else but to meet the needs of our families. Why do you need so much of something that may take you years to use? Why not buy things when you need them? Why buy products that you don't normally use because of the outstanding savings you will get from the coupons? Hording is just as obnoxious as any other addictive behavior and it waves that red flag that indicates that something is missing from one's life and happiness is being sought through the addiction. Get what you need and leave something for the next person who needs the same thing.
I am not one of the extreme couponers you see on tv. And in fact, I’ve been couponing since before it was the IT thing to do. I use them to get 30-50% off, sometimes more. But I have a large family. We’re blended and when everyone is home during the summer, there are 6 kids and 2 adults, not to mention my nephew who comes to visit. So you better believe I load up and use as many coupons as possible. We go through a box of cereal in one sitting! But I don’t clear a shelf unless there’s only one or two of the item left. I love overages, but don’t buy 500 mustards to get them. I think they should give the overages as gift card, thereby keeping people shopping there. They’re reimbursed for the money anyway from the companies. Not all coupon queens are bad. Some of us are just trying to survive and care for our families.
thank you for thinking of you family. i lived in a 4 room house with an outside potty. 6 boys and i sister and mom and dad. i survied without food stamps no commisary but had plenty of love. when you start taking advandaged of the "system# you are thinking of "yourself". no money should every changed hands for a coupon. but then again the services have changed a lot since i left. now it's i'm going to get all i can get, the hell with anybody else!
Very similar story only 4 kids all the time & my Mom lives with us, so 7 mouths to feed daily. I usually save 30-50% too. I love to use fresh vegetables and fruit and we seldom eat out. So, my grocery bill even after using a huge stack of coupons is still usually about $300/week. I have never gotten any money back at the end of my grocery shopping trip, but have often purchased 6-10 of the same items if the coupon was for more than the cost of the item. I consider my self a coupon addict… but only because it is the only way to make my budget work and not to get a high from cheating the system or getting any money back… just addicted to getting quality food & staples for the least amount possible. My husband is serving his 20 years so that we have lifetime Commissary priviledges because of the savings we get by using Commissary priviledges along with coupons…. plain and simple. With that being said, I am the first to put together a bag of groceries and give them away when I see a family in need or a tradgedy in our community. I know that I can always go to my pantry and share….
I am not one of the extreme couponers you see on tv. And in fact, I’ve been couponing since before it was the IT thing to do. I use them to get 30-50% off, sometimes more. But I have a large family. We’re blended and when everyone is home during the summer, there are 6 kids and 2 adults, not to mention my nephew who comes to visit. So you better believe I load up and use as many coupons as possible. We go through a box of cereal in one sitting! But I don’t clear a shelf unless there’s only one or two of the item left. I love overages, but don’t buy 500 mustards to get them. I think they should give the overages as gift card, thereby keeping people shopping there. Not all coupon queens are bad. Some of us are just trying to survive and care for our families.
Darn I only have 250 bottles of mayonnaise left. What will I do, what will I do?
Shavings?
According to my commissary director, these policy changes are aimed at patrons who are black marketing items purchased at the commissary… it was not directed towards your average couponing patron. If you're making care packages, or need to buy soda for your shop — you will not be flagged as an abuser of your priveledges for buying items in "bulk" or purchasing more than 36 units of an item. This article was written from a very narrow view point…
Hoarding is linked to mental health issues, and overages are poor ethics. One requires a professional, the other needs to be banned entirely. Commissary employees have plenty to do already without the admin burden of bankrolling patron pockets with cash from manufacturers. I'd also like to know where they store cases upon cases of products. Turning a home into a warehouse is not normal.
Wow the amount of judgmental responses are kinda sad.
I am, by all of your definitions, an "extreme couponer." I do not have a trip without them, I regularly save over 100%, I have been paid out in cash for overages, and I do stockpile.
The fact that everyone here seems to believe stockpiling has to equal hording just goes to show most don't understand the concept of couponing. If all you're doing is walking into a store and maybe grabbing a coupon or two that you see, I hate to tell you, but you're wasting hundreds to thousands of dollars of your own money. Couponers wait for a sale, use a coupon, and stock up for x amount of time—despite what you see on TV, the average stockpiler does not have 250 bodywashes or 900 things of deodorant. You watched a show called, "EXTREME Couponing," a show that was originally pitched as a way to educate people on how to coupon, that TLC got very over-zealous with. Do you realize these people are ASKED to beef up their stockpiles in any way possible? That the majority of Season 1 people regret their appearance? That stores were told to bend the rules because TLC went in behind them and paid them for all mis-used coupons? The average military family moves too much to stockpile for years—-most aim for 6 months.
The commissary exists to help military families buy items close to cost to feed their families, yet I can watch a couple at a case lot buying 40 cases of an item and no one bats an eyelash. The fact that people's opinions only focus on couponers is a bit ridiculous and there is a huge double-standard.
I personally do not clear shelves, I special order. I do not buy more than I need or need for others. My house is not a warehouse, I do not store items in my children's room or playroom, and I pay roughly $100 a month for a family of 4 on groceries. Most people spend what I do in a month in less than a week. And, I help out several other soldiers and their families from our unit. Yes, I bought over 500 Yakisoba Noodles in coupons in the month of April. I paid the surcharge and currently sitting in my house is less than 50—the rest went to everyone else. Or, the $0.20 Shave Gel I got at the PX in February—guess what? No one in my husband's unit will need to buy that anytime soon. Oh, and I still did not clear one shelf doing it.
As for overages, people act as if the commissary is the only store that gives them. You do realize you can go to Wal*Mart on any day of the week and get paid out there too, right? Couponers do not make the policy, we simply follow it—you'd never tell a woman with 4 kids and an E2 husband not to get WIC because it's a hand-out, so don't tell me I shouldn't be able to utilize overages when it's clearly part of their policy.
If you've ever wondered why DECA has to give overages, that's also easy to explain. Did you know every time you go to a store and they mark-down your coupon, the store is being reimbursed the full value plus handling fee. Clearing houses don't have the man-power or time to find those handful of coupons that have been slashed out and marked down. The PX is known for this policy, so let's say I have a $1.00 coupon and I want to buy Cough Drops for $0.65. As the customer, I get the item free, but AAFES actually get $1.08 for that $0.65 item. So instead of the customer "profiting" from the manufacture, the company is—DECA is not allowed to draw a profit. So for those saying DECA should do away with overages would mean they'd have to do away with coupons as a whole—and, no one, but especially DECA wants that.
Coupons and couponers are not the bane of the Commissaries existence, fraud is. Your neighbor you know buying the wrong product with a coupon, trying to slip in expired coupons…etc, those are the people DECA hates and those are who violate their privileges. It is not a violation of my privilege to walk in on tax money day and stock my deep freezer with a year's worth of meat, but somehow it's against my privilege to buy 4 cases of pasta to last my family 6 months because I have coupons? (Standard example, I don't actually own a deep freezer.) But remember, if your commissary excepts 1000 coupons in a day, they've not only made that money in coupons, they've also made $8.00 in handling fees—a profit DECA could not otherwise make. Fundamentally, that is why couponers will never actually be turned away.
So, judge all you want, be the people I see on payday with an overflowing cart of things and pay that $400.00. But don't mind me as I sigh knowing there is a much smarter way to shop.
Thank you! I also am an avid couponer, but I don’t do fraud. I special order and space my transaction according to the coupons to make sure the store gets paid. I received 30 in overage in jan for buying 7 items I used it on diapers and gas. I didn’t do anything wrong and to be judges so terribly is ridiculous. I take pride that the only items I now buy are either close too or free and that if we couldn’t shop for some reason we have enough food for atleast four months. We only buy fresh produce and some dairy products now… I don’t get why anyone wastes money when manufacturers go above and beyond to get coupons in your hands!!
Just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I read every word because it was informative.
However, please don't judge my purchases. There are many things that you buy that I don't agree with based on principle. Many of the things I buy don't have coupons available for them because they tend to be natural and organic and those companies don't hand out coupons nearly as often, and in a lot of cases not at all. It's a compromise I'm willing to make based on what I have come to believe is best for our family.
So yes, I spend a lot more than you do. And I think it's awesome that you save so much. And I would like for it to be possible for me to save as much as you do. But it's simply not.
Wow your such a “miss know it all” aren’t you? People like you annoy me!
YES! Thank you for this well thought out and clear argument. I always get so upset when people start talking about couponing/couponers. I am an avid coupon user and I have already been flagged by one of the employees at my commissary even though I have never done anything wrong and I have had to explain their own policy to them.
I have no problem with overages, then again the few times I have actually purchased an item that provided overage it usually goes towards paying for milk/produce. I do stock up and I do have a small freezer. We live on base and I employ efficient storage strategies to make things fit. We use a lot of canned beans, so when they are crazy cheap at Publix once a year I try to buy close to a years worth. I also am married to a man who can eat a box of cereal in a day and a half, so when his expensive cereal is on sale I buy as much as I can stand to pay for. I don't clear shelves (unless there are just a few items left) and how does one know if one person cleared the shelf or the fact that it is a pay week and everybody bought a few boxes of those granola bars that are on sale with the tearpad coupon right there on the shelf?
For those of you who think that those who don't use a ton of coupons are wasting money, you're incorrect. I simply choose to not purchase overly processed food to feed my family. Unfortunately, I've never seen a coupon for fresh produce. I wish it were otherwise but it's not. I am also picky about what household products (cleaning stuff etc) that I use. So, I don't use a lot of coupons. This makes my grocery bill higher than those who choose to purchase canned, boxed or bottled food or for those who simply buy what is on sale or what they have a coupon for. I'm not standing in judgement on what you feed your families or what products you buy. I honestly don't care. Everyone makes their own choices, based on many variables, when it comes to what goes in their pantry, freezer and refridgerator.
If DECA deals with the overage issue using gift cards, at least that guarantees that the money goes back into the commissary. I think that is a legitimate way to go. That way, the money can be used only there for other products that they sell. I'm honestly surprised that other retailers don't do the same thing to control it.
I totally rocked out with a coupon for "any produce" and for "apples" last year! There was a contest online and every time you entered you got a coupon for some type of produce. I entered every day and printed my 2 coupons each time. Also, there are coupons for ingredients like flour, olive oil, etc that I use when these items go on sale. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have my own grain mill and buy whole wheat berries but I am not there yet :-)
As far as cleaning products- I buy vinegar and Bon Ami. The commissary had coupons for vinegar for the longest time. Oh and baking soda is great for cleaning and you can get coupons for that as well.
What about personal care items? The commissary is great about having coupons for natural body care brands. My husband learned a long time ago not to be picky about razors, I buy what is cheap/free with coupons and we have quite a stockpile of those!
Don't get me wrong, I buy processed foods- but my cart usually has produce and perishables since I am stocked up on the other items that we use on a regular basis.
If you really pay attention- even YOU can save on your groceries/household items with coupons.
Yaaaaaaaay! A good thinker!
Right now I have coupons for salad, bananas, fresh tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, more fresh tomatoes, any Earthbound produce (this is Organic), and Carrots. You do not have to just buy processed foods and it's a myth that there isn't coupons out there for produce—the commissary alone right now is carrying 2 inserts specifically with produce coupons.
As for cleaning products, I bought Tide for $0.99 a bottle at the PX, I prefer Vinegar and Baking soda for stain treaters, and got my Bleach for less than $0.50 a jug, Lysol wipes for $0.25 a canistar…etc. I don't buy items I won't use or won't donate to those who can use.
Are you serious? fresh Express and,earthbound organics always have fresh coupons out for salads!!!! And trail mix, berries, etc. bogo free. Theres w bunch at our commi now actually :)
Where have I been? Been going to the Comissary and using coupons for ages, never realized
such a thing was going on…wow. I'm just thankful I am able to use the coupons I do take with me.
You know……. I'm so old I remember the day the commissary began taking coupons. I do have one suggestion. If I go in for a small order which is always the case now that my dear husband passed away and someone ahead of me at the cash register is nearly ready to leave and pulls out 400 coupons, well, that is not good! I wish they'd have a designated check-out line for that kind of order. Here I've been shopping for hours and am tired and need to sit down already and I have to wait another half hour while they argue over their coupons. I'm just saying.
CRACKING DOWN so glad to hear it. Boy nothing gets me more than a savy GI or wife who makes all that doe from the Govn't then runs to the commasary to rip them off too. After all we all know these folks are getting rich and all those bennies to boot. Lets don't let that get out of hand. Between the Commasaries bump up and the exchanges buying from china you know that extreme couponers are probably gonna break the bank. Come on. Was a day when the folks running the store worked hard to help these people find a good deal. Now the Navy (for one) garauntees they will match outside prices in the exchange. Where is the deal there. Used to they beat the in town price. Commisary was the ONLY way to save. Not now. Just another bennie goin down the toilet, bye bye
I have been in many grocery stores that limit the amount of savings to the cost of that item, no more. If it costs $1.50 then you can at the most, get $1.50 off with a coupon even though it says it "pays" the shopper. I agree that it is abuse and should be limited. I hate going to the commissary and having all of an item taken by those with a gazillion million coupons when I have maybe 5-10 max. It's not like they don't get good enough cost savings at the Commissary. They don't need to abuse the privilege and yes, it is a privilege! Just keep that in mind. It can be taken away if abused, just like a driver's license can be taken away for drunk driving. Driving is also a privilege. Use common sense and the reasonable man approach and things should be fine. Thanks and happy shopping!!!
Well I am all for getting what you can, but I have to tell you that I like this policy. It brings things down to an even playing field. Thanks for the artical.