Couponing: How to Double Your Savings with the “Rain Check”

There are some things you can always count on:

You’ll hit every traffic light when you are in a hurry.

You’ll be called on in a meeting on the only agenda item you are not prepared for.

Someone will show up at a party in your very same new dress.

And…the store will be sold out of the sale item you specifically came in for.

It happens every time, doesn’t it?  All is not lost at least for this last point.  You can request a “rain check” or a “make good.”  I never used to ask for a rain check in the past for a couple of reasons.  I really didn’t want to bother anyone and I thought I would probably lose the slip of paper anyways so the whole thing would have been a waste of time.  My attitude has changed now that I realize I can save at least 50% on groceries and household items by couponing and I see things differently.

Many others share my reluctance to ask – it’s embarrassing.  Part of me is a little self conscious having to ask the clerk to either take extra time to write up the rain check for me or even worse to call the manager over the intercom asking him to drop what he is doing and walk to the front of the store to write up a slip for a 2 for 1 mayonnaise special.  It seems so insignificant.  I think the other customers in line have a dialog in their heads that goes like this, “Manager to the register please, we have the cheapest person on the face of the earth here who is willing to make us all wait in line and fuss over $1 off a jar of sandwich spread.”  The whole thing seemed ridiculous to me.

When I shared this thought with my coupon guru, Anne (my sister in law) from Charleston, South Carolina she urged me to indeed always ask for a rain check for any sale items out of stock.  Every little bit counts when saving money.  The whole reason they are out of stock is because people like us rushed over to the store and cleaned them out.  The store wouldn’t offer the sales and the rain checks if it weren’t a huge draw for them – the rain check will also get me back into the store and chances are I’ll buy something else.  The other thing is that “couponers” are the best customers.  Isn’t that what stores want?  They want people who buy multiple items and keep returning week after week.  In other words, they don’t mind at all.

Why go through the trouble?  It is worth it.  First of all, the rain checks NEVER EXPIRE.  Chances are you’ll need the item later and when it is not on sale, it’ll probably be on the shelf ready for you to purchase it at the sale price.  The rain check doesn’t cost you anything so it is a net gain so there really is no downside.  All you need now is to keep track of them so you have them with you when you are ready to buy.

You can also search online for a coupon to match at sites such as Ebates or Cellfire to make your rain check even better.  Considering how much you save with coupons, adding that to the sale price can double your savings.  According to a study by Inmar, the average savings per coupon is $1.44 and it takes about a minute per coupon which would result in $14.40 for ten minutes work.  My estimate for coupon savings was about $50 per hour and The Wall St Journal’s is even higher.  They estimate you can make about $86 per hour couponing – tax free!  When you add in the fact that the item is on sale, you can probably double the savings $172 per hour.  Definitely worth the trouble to print a coupon and save your rain check.

Rain checks involve a minimal amount of organization.  Two simple rules: keep them in your car (doesn’t help to have them at home) and keep them in one envelope or have an envelope for each store.  In the grand scheme of things, there aren’t that many rain checks so one little envelope should work just fine.  If you have a coupon binder, just stick the envelope in your coupon file and you are ready to go.  If not, put it in your glove compartment.

As far as the people in line, we certainly can’t control how anyone thinks but we can always be polite and accommodating.  I always let someone go ahead of me who has one or two items.  The other thing is I often have coupons about to expire so I’ll hand the lady behind me a coupon for their item and usually get a wide smile with a thank you.  No one usually argues with a dollar off.

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