What does this mean to us? Is Walmart going to change their Coupon Policy to combat this? Are they going to stop accepting coupons?
RELAX! I can’t see a scenario where this will affect us in the least. They will be prosecuted and jailed.
We need to understand that while $25,000 is a lot of money to us, this is a huge campaign that Walmart has spent millions of dollars on. $25k wouldn’t cover the voice over guy on the commercials. This is also an isolated instance at one store. These are thieves who would have stolen using this method or another to rip people or stores off. Sadly they used coupons as a method and because of the popularity of coupons, it makes an even more sensational story.
What can we do: Coupon ethically. Period.
- Don’t photo copy coupons.
- Don’t buy coupons.
- Don’t use coupons for products they are not intended for.
- Don’t use coupons that are expired, a $1/2 on 1 product, or in any other unethical manor.
What about trading?
This has been an issue at our Wal-Mart also….not associates but customers. Last weekend our manager gave a customer a 600.00 gift card because of overage…these were all from fraudulent coupons that the cashier, csm and manager weren’t aware of them being so. I work in the accounting office so I see every coupon that comes thru our doors. I noticed the tide coupon and had remembered seeing it on a coupon blog explaining it was fake. Just in this instance, the customer had an assortment of “bad” coupons totaling 900.00. It is sad that a good thing that has saved alot of familes from not being able to put food on their table has switched hands to a more evil hand..
A cashier I know told me one of her own got fired two weeks ago for coupon fraud at my store. She didn’t know how the cashier was doing it.
This is my local Walmart. From talking to people about this story I’ve been told that they were making coupons and altering coupons to have a big overage. I’ve had a number of family and friends who have gone shopping since the weekend and are having a harder time using the coupons and price matching.
I have long been an advocate for the proper and ethical use of coupons. I have spoken with WM managers countless times and encouraged them to spend much more time watching their employees and much less time scrutinizing honest WM shoppers. This story is about WM managers with their heads in the sand. What goes around comes around, and WM managers are getting their just rewards.
if you are concerned about a coupon being fake, just go to coupon information center dot com. they keep a list of fraudulent coupons out. seems to me a lot of the higher value coupons are the ones that are trouble. you can go to veri-fi dot com and check for coupons that come from coupons dot com. i really hope that these folks see jail time.
I agree 100% about all this being wrong but how come none of the wrong Walmart – store/corporation does is never brought up?
Like the fact they they have a new practice of not giving a customer the full refund on an item.
Or how they claim to give food to the poor and needy? I don’t think they want molded bread and melted icecream cakes.
KP what “new practice” are you referring to when you say Walmart does not give a full refund on an item? The only time you MAY not get the full amount you paid for an item is when you return it without a receipt (which is true for just about any retailer IF they even allow returns without a receipt). If you have your receipt then you are refunded the amount that you paid. Also thousands of pounds of food are donated to Feeding America and other local food banks each year…the molded bread and melted ice cream cakes are thrown away daily, it is all common sense.
This is horrible! One of the concerns my husband and I have talked about is how people can abuse Walmart’s price matching policy. Walmart does not require you to have the ad with you or even have the prices written down and where you are price matching to. My husband and I do a lot of price matching at Walmart with other local stores and I make sure I write down the price and store I am matching with to make things easier but I still worry that people could abuse this.
I really have to disagree with you on the buying coupons thing. Since so many coupons are regional, if I see a coupon that I want for a product that I need then I will buy it. Also, if I don’t want to buy more than two copies of the paper but want the coupons for BOGO deals. I know that not everyone will agree with me but that is just how I feel about it.
Katie, buying coupons is illegal. this is not the same as a clipping service.
Its a problem at my walmarts. They use counterfeits and the cashiers check on it, but they cannot get ahead of it all. Counterfeits are happening everywhere and walmart is an attractive target due to giving overage on gift cards.
Yes they do give food to the poor and needy in my community and it is not moldy or melted.
I would like to see the counterfeiters from Extreme couponing jailed. And I would like to see the cashiers and CSMs at Walmart better trained across the board about the coupon policy. I get different answers about competitor coupons depending on who is on the floor.
I’ve had the same experience where one day they let me use coupons from Meijer (for greeting cards)–after discussing it with the manager, then the next time I use them they say I can’t and they shouldn’t have let me use it in the first place. I don’t so much mind the inconsistency as I mind the attitudes some of the cashiers have. I’m not trying to cheat anyone.
NOTHING makes me madder than stuff like this , i watch my coupons everywhere i shop, EVERY time, i coupon carefully and respectfully, just like everyone else should !
SERIOUSLY people.
Everyone just take it easy. There was no need to post this story anyways. All it does is get people nervous and worried. These people committed coupon fraud by altering and copying coupons. If someone chooses to pay for someones time and in return they get coupons, I don’t have problem with that. Just continue to use the coupon for the right product. When I buy a paper, I am paying for the newspapers time to put the coupon inserts in the paper. Millions of coupons go to waist because people choose not to use them for whatever reason. Manufactures don’t just put out all those coupons and expect 94% of them to go unused. I have and will continue to pay for someones time so I can get some great coupons for free. TLC’s show is part of the reason certain people choose to alter or copy coupons. The show is fake. Most people cannot walk into a store and save $1000. The stores on that show allowed the customer to bend the rules for the show.
buying coupons and paying for clipping services are not the same thing. I am referring to people who buy coupons, I will say in the clipping service area they are crossing the line when they charge more for their time on popular coupons.
I agree, using a service (namely ebay) where sellers jack up prices when the items are on sale is just wrong. Dreamfields pasta coupons were going for $1.99 per set of 20, now since it’s on sale at Publix, you’ll see a set of 20 going for $8.99 or more. Don’t support these people. I use a clipping service in my town that charges one rate no matter what coupons you get.
I wasn’t aware of this story so I’m glad it was posted.
There is plenty of reason to post it. This affects us. Its fraud.
Paul, I’m fairly new to couponing and have purchased coupons on ebay. Is that not OK? They are coupons out of the paper…is that wrong?
it just depends if they are a clipping service or someone selling coupons.
People are selling their time on ebay, they are not selling the coupons themselves. If someone chooses to pay more for someones time for popular coupon, so be it. When their is a contest to enter for a free car, don’t more people enter that contest than say for a free book? Clipping services and most of the people on ebay put in alot of time and resources to clip,sort and send the free coupons to people. They should get payed for their time. Manufactures put disclaimers on coupons to stop people from copying or altering coupons. If someone is using their coupon, it means a product of theirs is being bought. I would advise if you use Ebay as a way of getting coupons, that if you see a coupon that looks to good to be true, please do your best to make sure the coupon is legit before you decide to pay for ones time to send you the coupons. Please don’t stress about coupons. Just try and do the best you can. Let God take care of the rest.
The problem is that you do not know where they are getting the coupons. It is mostly illegal where they are coming from that the “clippers” get them. The insert companies have contracts with the papers that the inserts are to be destroyed in the papers not sold. The clippers basically steal the inserts that should have been destroyed and are reselling them.
It is mostly illegal? That’s quite an assumption….
Angla,
I know it sounds harsh, but it is not an assumption. If they are not buying the paper or receiving them from people who have for then it isn’t legal. The insert companies have agreements that all un-purchased copies are to be destroyed. They count on a certain redemption rate that is based on the number of papers sold.
I think you said it yourself above…the problem is you don’t know where they are coming from. And since you don’t know, you are assuming it is illegal…which is not necessarily the case.
I am not sure where you are going with this. Can you explain a way that it is legal to get inserts? I have obviously struck a nerve with you and I am not not saying that there are not ANY legitimate clipping services out there, but MOST as I said do not get them legally.
I live about 15 minutes from Hanford and I am very upset and mad that this happened. Those people got what they deserved. Shame, shame, shame on them. It’s already hard enough to use coupons now as it is.
I am a couponer and also a CSM at Wal Mart. I would like to say this is just plain ignorance! Anytime a CSM turns a key its all recorded on a daily report in the cash office. There is NO WAY to NOT get caught. I know all of the CSM’s at our Wal Mart and not one of them would fall for this or turn their key without it being legit. As far as the coupon training I agree. It seems in the Wal Mart I work in everyone knows I coupon so they come to me for answers. I have to say I seem to explain more to customers than I do workers. There are people that use coupons the right way and there will ALWAYS be people that use them in a deceitful way and there is just no way to stop them. Where there is a will, there is a way. I believe the coupon companies are getting smarter with their wording so people can’t abuse them as bad and I agree they need to REMOVE the Extreme Couponing Show from tv. Its one thing to save money for your own family but those people are going overboard I believe. Good Day!
i quit buying coupons when the clipping service that i used started auctioning the better coupons on ebay. also, it irks me that people steal the tear pads from stores and sell them.
Don’t even get me started on TLC’s EXTREME COUPONING! I have a coupon site and teach “how to use coupon” classes, and tell everyone I think the show should be called EXTREME HOARDING. That it is a reality show and things are staged. Did you see the one where a lady bought every pkg of “ramen noodles” or something like that, and then here comes a young college guy wanting to buy just one? She says;” Sorry, I was here first,” and didn’t give him one stinkin’ pkg. So staged. And, in ATL you cannot have a film crew in any of the stores.
When people see my coupon binder they say ‘Oh, you’re one of those EXTREME COUPONERS like I see on tv, aren’t you?” “No, I’m a strategic couponer who gives away almost as much as I keep and I don’t hold up lines for hours and hours.” (thank you very much). WHEW, that felt good to get out of my system.
Sorry to rant!
Hey Tammie, I am not trying to rain on your rant, but we were on the show. I would not lump us with the unethical shelf clearers that have been on. We only doubled one like coupon and I can guarantee that no one bent the rules in our favor. This story has nothing to do with the TV show. These people are thieves. They chose coupons and the overage policy as their medium because they were familiar with them.