Interesting article in the St Louis Business Journal this week about St Louis being among the most frugal cities. Coupons.com has named St Louis the 4th most frugal city in the U.S.
I was quite shocked with this info. I rarely see others using coupons at the stores I shop. When I took the oldest son to the grocery store in Minneapolis this summer, everyone had a fist full of coupons. In fact, when the cashier asked for my coupons and I told her I didn't have any, yes, I left them all at home, she looked at me like I was crazy.
I'm a
What? Mobile coupons in St Louis?
I did some more digging to find out exactly what Coupons.com was talking about with the mobile coupons.
From Coupons.com press release Coupons.com Surpasses 1 Million Downloads of Its Mobile Applications.
"The Coupons.com app allows users to access, browse and select offers from Coupons.com, including coupons they can print for redemption, Save to Card coupons that load directly to their store loyalty cards as well as hyper-local Show & Save coupons they show on their mobile devices for redemption at point of sale. A free application, Coupons.com is available for iPhone. Versions for other mobile operating systems are in development."
Since the grocery stores in St Louis don't have loyalty cards and you're lucky if a cashier doesn't question your Internet printable coupons, I can't imagine showing my iPhone to the cashier to scan. There must be an awful lot of people sending coupons to their printer from their iPhones. I had better look into that Grocery IQ App.
I'm having a hard time believing any of this info. Do you see lots of people using coupons at the store you shop and have you put the coupon app on your phone?
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I don't have a coupon app on my phone because I don't have that kind of phone.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't get strange looks when I hand over a fistful of coupons either.
But, cashiers don't ask any more either.
When I worked as Schnucks (many years ago) we were required to ask every customer and not asking would have been a write up.
Now, it does not matter where I shop, they don't ask. The last time I was asked, the cashier was over 50 and had been at that store for over 20 years.
Hi
ReplyDeleteDo not have coupon app. I also do not have that kind of phone.
I consider myself a serious couponer. I have 3 binders. Wag's and Target have own binder. Doing this for over a year now and only 2-5 times have a run in to someone who has a stack of coupons or knows how to use them to get the best value. Many people even ask me where I get all the coupons from.
I have seen fellow couponers out when I"m shopping but its been mostly on Shop N Save Thursdays.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they had a mobile app. I've got an iphone so I guess I could try it. But I've done the Target mobile coupons and the cashier can never get them to scan so its kind of more of pain. Even the cashiers at Target are that familiar with them when I do show the mobile coupon, so i can imagine the look I'd get from other cashiers with the mobile coupons.com.
Laurielou
Oh my gosh mobile coupons are great. I mainly use them at like JoAnns when I am there. You just load the ap from the store and then download the coupon to your iphone. Saves time and ink from the printer. However I never use them at the grocery store, Wags, or CVS. I use way to many coupons to have to do that at those stores.
ReplyDeleteI have the coupons.com app for my iPhone and love it! The app usually has the same coupons as the web version, so when there are great coupons out for an item I can print an extra set right from my phone to my wireless printer. Isn't technology great?!?
ReplyDeleteI have just started to get into coupon apps for my phone. There are some good ones. My #1 favorite is Geoqpons! I have it for my iphone, but is available for anroid and some blackberry phones. You can search facebook for their page or take a look at my post from my blog. The fanpage for Geoqpons even highlighted my blog for the post.
ReplyDeletehttp://stlavonlady1.blogspot.com/2011/01/stlavonlady.html
I don't have the fancy schmancy phone, but I do see other couponers sometimes, but not not as much as you would think to make us 3rd/4th - maybe it is that other places use coupons so incredibly seldom(?)
ReplyDeleteArmyMomx2
How funny - the cashier at Target tonight was telling me about Geoqpons tonight after I used a Target mobile coupon. I had not found it in the app store yet because of the spelling, so I'm glad I read this. I was really optimistic that with the coupons.com app I could print more coupons, but when I emailed them to me, the site recognized my computer and the limits. It appears that I don't have the right kind of printer to print straight from my IPhone. Looks like on HP printers work.
ReplyDeleteI've lived all over the country and I have to disagree with these "findings" St. Louis is so coupon unfriendly!!!
ReplyDeleteI hardly ever see anyone using paper coupons at grocery stores here. They may use one or two coupons but I never see anyone hand over a stack like I do. And I've never seen anyone using coupons from their phone. The only stores I actually see other couponers at are Walgreens and CVS. I dispute the rankings too. It hard to be frugal in a city where the stores dont double and triple coupons and have such restrictive policies for printed coupons.
ReplyDeleteHi All - So, it's not just the store I shop. It sounds like seeing others using coupons is not a common sight.
ReplyDeleteI downloaded or should I say, I had my son download the Grocery IQ app. I don't have an HP printer, so I can't send them directly to my printer. I hope they someday they will make other priters compatable. I'll have to play with the app a bit, it looks like it might be easy way to keep a price book on a few items.
Stlavonlady - I'll check out Geoqpons. Thanks!
Arymomx2 - The only reason I have a fancy schmancy phone is because I'm saving so much money at the grocery store. I could never jsutify the cost otherwise. I've found it to be a great tool for saving even more money. And use it as my camera too.
Y'all need to visit West County more. We are overrun with couponers. I encounter multiple people couponing at every store I go to, and often hear tales about them from the checkers or managers. I'm not super surprised. The demographics of west county fall pretty squarely within the demographic of the most likely to coupon, for the most part.
ReplyDeleteNow I've never used or seen anyone use mobile coupons.
I'm having difficulty believing that we're that high up on the list too. I can't go to a store anywhere here in South and pass coupons over without cashiers rolling their eyes and the people in line behind me doing the same. But, alas, I'm toward the Southern part, and even though you'd THINK there would be more couponers, I'm just not seeing it...I rarely even see people swipe a Script card at Schnuck's for charity! but that's just me...I don't do mobile, but have heard of them...but I've not seen anyone use them, either
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is, I think high users of coupons.com skew the total. For example, I very seriously doubt that they can track that I, one person, often use multiple computers, or even locations, to be able to print multiple coupons. We have like 8 computers at our house (although I only really use 2 of them), plus sometimes, if it's something I really need, I might print one off at work or at my parents house too. I don't know how they can account for that other than thinking that my separate computers are separate "users". Thus, I think that probably some crazy coupon ladies in various locations could really skew the total, if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Jeri. I think this must be a very un-scientific study to determine coupon use. I also never see anyone using coupons, and when others behind me in line see me using them at first they are annoyed then shocked and ask where I get them! I'm a little too analytical to believe these 'results.'
ReplyDeleteI very rairly see anyone else couponing, but I often find, especially at Wags, that whatever I have a coupon for is all sold out. So I guess others are buying things up, it just doesn't happen to be when I'm there to see it.
ReplyDeleteChris - I also have noticed what coupons are hot because the shelves will be bare. I would love to run into other couponers, I love chatting about coups! I always feel weird handing over my coupons while everyone else watches, like they've never seen any before. But sometimes people will make nice comments about my savings and that feels good :)
ReplyDeleteHi Chris & CJ - I think emply shelves are more of a stock problem than lots of people using coupons. It only takes one person to clear the shelves sometimes.
ReplyDelete