When the public began extreme couponing a few years ago, retail businesses thought they were onto a good thing. They had visions of thousands of new, big-spending customers flocking to their stores and signing onto their websites.

However, the reality eventually set in. Companies began to realize that extreme couponing, because it was being pushed to the limits, was perhaps not such a good thing after all. Restaurants offering coupons were drawing in some patrons who just wanted to eat the meal the coupon offered, but were not prepared to order any additional items and were often bad tippers. The result was that existing customers were staying away because of the crowds and staff was dissatisfied.

Supermarkets also became disillusioned. Customers were stacking coupons, that is, offering a number of different coupons for one item. Clients were mass cutting, which means that they were using piles of the same coupon that had been sorted and cut with a paper guillotine. Customers were using free coupons to buy large quantities of one particular item, often putting stores into out-of-stock situations.

Caught On and Not Aiding the Passion
As a result, many retail outlets put restrictions in place regarding the use of coupons. For example, some large stores, both online sites and brick-and-mortar outlets, will now only accept one coupon per item, require supervisor verification when coupon amounts reach a certain limit, or have restrictions on buy-one-get-one-free deals. However, they have to carefully balance the restrictions so that they don’t chase away the consumers who will grow their customer base.

Who can resist a good deal? Coupons are one of the ways that you can slice a few dollars off your grocery bill, eat a free meal at a restaurant, or enjoy a vacation at a reduced price. The art of coupon clipping and searching for coupon codes has become more popular in recent years, evolving into extreme couponing.

The Joy of Extreme Couponing
Like all extreme sports, extreme couponing offers not only a great end result — shaving dollars off your final payment — but gives participants an adrenaline rush on the way to that outcome.

Hunting for online coupon codes, clipping coupons from magazines and newspapers, or signing on to a coupon website is a huge part of the fun. The search at the store for items that match your coupons or eating the free meal is a blast. The satisfaction of paying your final trimmed down tab is the ultimate thrill.

One of the downsides of extreme couponing is that your hoarder instinct kicks in. You’ve all seen the TV programs of people who have shelves or rooms full of goods. Extreme couponers may become so carried away that they have large quantities of grocery items that will last them for years, probably long after expiration. Many of these items may be expensive brands that they would not normally have bought.

Why Do Businesses Offer Coupons?

There are a number of reasons why companies offer coupons for goods or services:

• Encourage consumers to shop at a specific store
• Bring in potential customers who may be undecided if to buy a product or not
• Promote branding and to further brand loyalty
• Advertise new products
• Get repeat business

It seems that extreme couponing is here to stay, for the meantime anyway. Customers love to get good deals and discounts, and free coupons are one of the ways to get them in the store or clicking on the retail website.

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