Are you confused by digital coupons?  Are they worth the bother?  I guess it depends on your motivation to save money.    Navigating  the logistics of digital coupons presents a unique challenge.   If you  decide to get in the game, you’ll need technical skills, patience, and good reading ability.  It’s easier if you start with the ads in the Sunday paper, but if you have the time, you can download the ads on your computer or smart phone.   But are digital coupons for dummies? 

I didn’t used to be much of a coupon person.  In the old days, people got coupons in newspapers and magazines. .  My then mother-in-law was a coupon junkie.  Her cupboards were loaded with strange or  unappetizing products which she’d acquired by use of coupons. She knew to the penny, and was proud to say , how much she  had saved. .  She arrived at this figure by adding up the value of all the  coupons she had redeemed. . Never mind that she had bought overpriced products that she seldom consumed. .  To her, it was the bottom line that mattered

However, I saw things differently.   It seemed to me that clipping and redeeming coupons wasn’t worth the effort.

Then, along came the covid-19 pandemic.  Now, I was looking for  ways to pass the time while socially isolated. . Unfortunately, newspapers have become less interesting. They’ve cut staff , so there isn’t much” hard news“.  And what’s there  is slanted according to the bias of the editorial staff.  They’re printing more “ soft news” in  what we used to call fillers—long, two and three page human interest  stories devoted to animals, diseases and causes.  Pretty dull stuff.

So, there I am on a Sunday morning, desperately seeking some entertainment from the morning newspaper.  Comics and sports pages really don’t do it.  Suddenly,, the pharmacy  and supermarket pages  draw my interest.  It’s a challenge to sift through the various offers.  If you buy five of this or that, there’s a dollar to be saved.  Then, there’s BOGO (buy one get one free). And finally, the most complex offer of all, digital coupons.

Digital coupons aren’t for the time limited  or technologically unskilled person.  You’ll need to log in to the store’s  website with your email address, and then create a password which you will quickly forget.  With a sinking heart, you know you’re now on their list.  You’ll be getting emails from them  ad infinitum. Anyway, put on your  glasses and scroll through the digital coupon offers.  Read the fine print. Often, it says you must buy two, five, or nine of the product in order to save a dollar or less.

When you get to the store, you forget exactly what the offer entailed.  If you ask the checkout clerk why the coupon didn’t download on your rewards card or pin, it’s because you had to buy more than one. Or the offer ended yesterday.  Now , you have a  choice. Turn it back in—looking like a cheapskate—or pay the full price.  It’s just one of the tricks of the trade

Buyer Beware: digital coupons are not for dummies