Mayhem

Send Help.

I haven't posted in a few days because upon my return from working out of town, I came back to this mess. I can't even begin to describe to you how freakin' behind I am on my coupon clipping and organizing. The newspaper man from Hell of course ignored my vacation stop and dropped off three newspapers at my door. I'm sooo lucky that no one took my papers while I was gone. And on that thought, I'm very lucky no one broke into my freakin house. . Did I mention Krogers has hand soap on sale for  18 cents each?!?! You realize what to do when handsoap reaches 25 cents and below, right? You buy a crapload of it.

Unfortunately they're on to me. I ran over to the Kroghetto near my house (I live in a working class neighborhood, so it's a pretty shabby store) to buy 10 (out of the 20 I plan to buy) bottles of handsoap only to get stopped by the checkout girl and told they can only take 3 of my coupons. WTF. I admit, I kind of knew there was blood in the water when I read the fine print of the Kroger ad this week, which states (up to 3 coupons accepted) but I just didn't want to believe it.... and I hoped in the bottom of my little frugal heart they would let me slide.

NO SUCH LUCK. So I've made several trips back and forth to krogers to pick up hand soap. Stupid and insane really. Just think about it. If I wanted to walk in there and buy 100 freakin bottles full price, they wouldn't blink an eye. Yet, for the sake of keeping up stock, they limit me to 3 hand soaps because I'm using coupons. Sigh. I understand where they're coming from, nothing is more frusterating then going to the store to get a good deal only to find out they are out of stock. I pride myself in being a responsible couponer and making sure I only take my fair share.

Limits don't solve anything. People who want to abuse the system and get more than their fair share will think of other ways, much smarter ways, to get more product than the store's stupid 3 coupon limit policy.  Don't feel bad for the stores. The men and women who run the multi-national grocery chains are smart and know exactly what coupons come out when.

So what's my solution? I think stores should just keep track of how much of the loss leaders are bought in any given sale period and make sure they order more than enough for everyone. That's it. I also encourage any of the shelf clearers lurking around to make a special order with their store if they plan to wipe out the shelves. It's not hard and it's free to do.

Well, I better get back to working through the mess that is my home. Hope all is well on your side of the screen.

P. Manolos