Friday, January 14, 2011

The Coupon Bubble

My husband and I play poker.  There's a term in poker tournaments for when you go out of the tournament 1 spot too early to make any money.  If you'd stayed in just a little longer you would have gotten paid, but for whatever reason you are going home empty-handed.

I believe that coupons have a Bubble too.  The Bubble seems to vary a little bit from area to area (and even store to store), but basically it's that point where your coupon is just slightly the wrong amount.  My local stores will double coupons up to .50, so a .50 coupon is just as good as a $1 coupon.  However, a .55 coupon is The Bubble.  Had it been just .05 lower it would have doubled!  But, it wasn't so instead of getting that $1 off, I feel like I'm losing out on .45!

Some stores will double UP TO $1 (so a .55 coupon would be increased to $1) and others still will double the $1 ones, and some won't double at all.  When stores double they only get reimbursed by the manufacturer for the coupon amount, so they are basically absorbing the difference.  So, while I may hate the Coupon Bubble, I'll just be happy to have any coupon at all and be glad that my stores do double up to .50!

What's your coupon bubble?

2 comments:

  1. But I think on the items that you don't have a coupon for, they're still making a good bit of money on. So I wouldn't feel guilty even if they double it up to a $1.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't feel guilty about stores doubling, just saying that I'll take what I can get and be thankful that my stores double at all (since many don't).

    ReplyDelete