Are Stores Keeping Your Coupon Overages?

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

25 Feb 2012 12:16 PM

With the tightening of coupon policies, you may have seen that many stores are no longer honoring overages. What you may not know is that in some cases, stores are actually profiting from these overages.

What is Coupon Overage?

A coupon overage occurs when the savings of a coupon exceeds the price of an item. So for example, if you have a valuable $3 coupon for an item and the item goes on sale for $2.79, the overage would be $0.21 or $3 minus $2.79. It used to be that stores would automatically apply that extra money to the rest of your order or even give it back to you. I remember sending my husband out to buy a few bags of Vitamin C drops an having him call me because the store bagged them up and then instead of asking for payment, paid him some change instead.

You can use the coupon overages to help with your overall grocery bill or to pay for items that you can't find coupons for, such as fresh produce.

Current Store Policies

While some stores that offer you overages still exist, the policy is increasingly rare. Instead, cashiers adjust the price of the coupon down to eliminate the overage. You'll still get the product for free, but you won't be paid for it, nor will that extra money discount any of your other groceries.

Where Do the Overages Go?

Since the manufacturers of a product reimburse the store for the full amount of the coupon, where does the extra money go? The simple answer is that the store makes a profit on your coupon. It is keeping your coupon overage.

While this might not seem fair, remember that you are still getting the product for free. The store may be using that money to off-set the cost of putting the item on sale, to off-set shopping lifting or to raise profit margins. Who knows.

Related Articles:

Don't Let Everyone Else Tell You What You Need

Coupons for Online Savings

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger