I love printable coupons. In the almost two years that I have been using coupons I have noticed an increase in the amount of printable coupons manufacturers put out. Not only are there more printable coupons available but also I find that the value is a lot of times more generous than coupons found in the newspaper inserts. However, and unfortunately, printable coupons are often abused and can be easily manipulated.
Because I feel strongly about responsible couponing, I want to share with you some common sense tips regarding the use and distribution of printable coupons in pdf format:
1) In general, don’t trust printable coupons (in pdf or even jpeg form ) that are not hosted or cannot be found on the manufacturer’s website. Scanned coupons are a BIG problem and almost always result in coupon offers being withdrawn by the manufacturer.
2) Even if you see a coupon being distributed by another reputable website that’s in this form, always question it. I have shared before a couple of resources you can use to make sure the coupon you received from a friend via email or you found on a website is legitimate.
3) Most manufacturers are moving away from releasing coupons in pdf form. You can be sure that most large companies are now trusting technology such as Bricks, or coupon providing services like Coupons.com or Red Plum, to release their coupons. There are some manufacturers that have made it clear they don’t release printable coupons in pdf format. One such manufacturer is Procter & Gamble. This is the reason when I saw these printable coupons available on the Cookie Magazine website earlier this week I knew they were unauthorized and most likely the result of someone scanning the magazine. One of the coupons was for Tide detergent, which is one of Procter and Gamble Products.
4) Practice common sense and read the details. Continuing with the example of the Cookie Magazine coupons, if you read some of the coupons you can discern that this is a scan of a coupon not the actual coupon. For example, the Bagel Bites coupon states on the face of the coupon to look at the reverse side for details. But you have no reverse side to look at, do you?
I will say again what I have said before: The bottom line is this, you may be able to get a great deal buy using coupons illegitimately. But chances are you are just hurting the chances of getting another good deal in the future. Would you rather save now or save always?
As the owner of this site that’s visited by thousands every week, I always feel responsible for the information I make available to you. So this is my commitment to you:
- I will never share a coupon in pdf format that is not hosted on a manufacturer’s website or that I received or a reader received directly from the manufacturer via email.
- I will never take a coupon in pdf or jpeg format and host it on my site so that I can share it with you.
- I will perform due diligence to make sure all coupons I share with you are legitimate for you to use.
I only ask one thing from you: To understand that I am human and also make mistakes. So, as much as I work hard to make sure that the information I put in front of you is accurate, there will always be a chance for errors. Please refer to the disclaimer in my “Terms” page for more on this.
