You’ve seen those news stories where an area “coupon expert” walks into a grocery store and gets $100 worth of groceries for less than $15.00. First off, this isn’t happening every time they go grocery shopping, and they’re using a technique referred to as “coupon stacking.” Coupon stacking is using more than one coupon toward the cost of a single item. Many people think you can’t do it, and while it is true that not all stores allow this practice, those that do open the door to big, big savings.

Lets get to stacking. There are three basic ways to stack coupons. The first is to use both a manufacturer’s coupon (usually has manufacturer coupon printed on it, and usually has a longer expiration date than grocers coupons) used in combination with a store-issued coupon typically found in your weekly printed circulars, on the stores web sites and on those, (annoying to the non-initiated) coupons given with your printed grocery store receipt. The second is to stack any combination of manufacturer’s and store-issued coupons toward the price of an item. Lastly is the third way by stacking a store’s dollar-off coupon, like the $5 off a $25 purchase with manufacturer’s coupons and using applicable store issued coupons.

Coupon stacking policies will vary greatly with each store having their own policies regarding coupon stacking. Here are just a few from our favorite major chains that frequently have both manufacturer coupons and their own store issued coupons.

- CVS is the best for coupon stacking because they allow you to utilize one manufacturer’s coupon with CVS-issued Extra Bucks coupons and a CVS issued dollars off coupon ($5 off a $25 purchase). If you’re not checking the weekly circular for deals you’re missing out!
- Target currently allows stacking one manufacturer’s coupon with one Target store coupon toward the cost of one single item.
- Walgreens currently allows stacking one manufacturer’s coupon with one Walgreens coupon toward the cost of one single item. Like CVS above, watch for the Walgreens weekly circulars, they often have free with rebate items and great coupons you can stack.

If your not sure about your local stores policies, contact the customer service department in advance to save time and avoid any misinformation.

Tags: couponing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Coupons, Newsletters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.