Glossary of Couponing Terms

Types of Coupons/Discounts

MFG or MQ - Manufacturer's Coupon - the most commonly known coupons found in Sunday inserts,  magazines, special in store displays, via direct mail, inside of products or printed on the package.

IPC / IP - Internet Printable Coupon- many sites offer printable coupons but most link to coupons.com, Smart Source or Red Plum and the same discount offers. In addition there are coupons on manufacturer websites, social networking websites and banner ads which are not always available at coupons.com.

7 day Coupon- Single store coupons printed in their newspaper inserts advertisement as part of the weekly sales promotion. These are frequently available in drug store ads and less often in grocery store ads. For holiday event ads grocery stores will also sometimes feature shorter duration coupons of 3 to 4 days.  These coupons can be combined with a manufacturer coupon for more savings.

BOGO - Buy one Get one. Also B1G1 - buy one get one. This can be a sale or coupon that allows you to purchase two of the same item for the price of one. If this is a store special you can combine it with manufacturer coupons for further savings and often free merchandise.

• 2/$5: This means 2 items for $5 (of course there could be other numbers like 3/$10 means 3 items for $10).
• $1/2: This means $1 off of 2 items, in other words you must buy 2 items and then the coupon will work (of course it could be different numbers like $2/1 means $2 off 1 item).

Loss Leader -   Advertised specials that stores put out to entice shoppers in to the stores. These are items sold at a very deep discount and when combined with coupons will result in exceptional savings. Look for these items in conjunction with major events - for instance in the 4th of July adds there were loss leaders for soda, bbq sauce, hot dog buns and hot dogs.

The major drug store chains will often place items on sale to coincide with Sunday insert coupons and show in their ad a free or extremely inexpensive item. They are doing the coupon matching for you.

Catalina / CAT - The thin paper coupons given at the cash register with your receipt. Catalina is the name of the company that administers the promotions and the receipt boxes they print on, if you watch the cashier you will see the coupons usually print from a separate machine from the register receipt tape. These can be used for an immediate purchase or saved to take advantage of future sales but be sure to check the expiration date. There are several different types of Catalina coupons - store specific, item specific or dollar value rewards. They can be manufacturer produced coupons good for specific products and not tied to the store it was received at - meaning you can add it to your coupon stash and use it wherever you can get the most value for it.

Catalina's are promotions that will vary by store and are triggered by buying certain products or combinations of products - for instance I purchased 2 packages of Kraft singles at Safeway that were a July 4th loss leader promo and received a $1.00 off your next order compliments of Kraft, this was an excellent deal because the coupon was not for a specific item but a straight $1.00 off my next grocery order (and since I only spent $3.00 total on the 2 cheeses it is the equivalent of a 33% instant rebate) meaning it would apply to anything I chose to purchase (alcohol and cigarettes are excluded). Catalina promotions are not always advertised but you can check the forums at Hot Coupon World and A full Cup to see reports of what product purchases are resulting in Catalina coupons at specific stores.  These coupons tend to be a higher value than newspaper coupons and are particularly prized in they are straight dollars off.

ONYO - On your next order. This is usually in the form of a Catalina coupon as above but can be rewarded in the form of a store gift card. Target often offers promotions in which you are rewarded with a Target gift card for buying certain products / amounts. You can not apply a gift card received as a promotion to pay for the items you bought to receive the card - i.e. you must use it on your next purchase.

Blinkies - In-store manufacturer's coupons distributed from a red blinking box placed near the product display, these boxes are administered by Smart Source which also runs coupons.com online printing services and produces a Sunday Coupon insert.  Be on the lookout for these as you are shopping to enhance your coupon stash.  These are usually manufacturer coupons that do not specify a store so they can be collected one place and used at another.

Peelie - Peel off  coupon located on packages generally redeemed instantly in store at the register.  Mail in rebates are frequently placed on products this way.

Tear Pad - A pad of coupons usually found next to the product it is for often on a special promotional display.

MIR - Mail in Rebate.  This can be for the full purchase price or a partial refund.

TMF - Try me Free. Another name for a rebate offer, generally you will have to mail in a form, receipt and UPC bar code from the packaging to receive the refund.

Satisfaction Guarantee / Money Back Guarantee- Another form of mail in rebate in which the purchase price will be returned to you via check. The difference between a Try me Free offer and these is that with the try me free offer the manufacturer is offering the product free via rebate to entice you to buy the product. For satisfaction guarantees you are saying you did not like the item.

Sunday coupon Inserts

RP - Red Plum - Sunday coupon inserts, direct mail, Internet printables

SS -   Smart Source - Sunday coupon inserts, online printables via coupons.com, direct mail, in store red box "blinkies" point of sale coupons, magazine inserts

P&G -   Proctor and Gamble once a month Sunday newspaper insert.

Seasonal Specials - Random inserts from major manufacturers for special events. For example Kellog's Fuel for School insert on August 3 with coupons for cereals, waffles and lunch box snacks and a $10 mail in rebate on the purchase of ten qualifying items on a single receipt. General Mills does a free standing insert about once a month featuring coupons from their wide array of products and brands.

Drug Store discounts terminology

RR - Register Rewards - This is Walgreen's reward for purchase of specific items it is like Walgreen's "money" printed on receipts to be used like cash in store on your next purchase. It is a form of Catalina - printed from the same machine and it will have an expiration date. The reward is sponsored by a manufacturer and is essentially an instant rebate on that product or products. The reward can be spent on almost any item in the store but if you buy the same promotional item that generated the reward you will NOT get a second reward. See the resources tab - store guides - Walgreens for more information on register rewards.

Easy Saver Catalog -  A monthly book of coupons and rebates available at Walgreen's stores. Coupons in the book can be combined with both manufacturer coupons and the 7 day coupons found in the Walgreen's Sunday advertisements.  The easy saver also contains a list of items with rebates for the month. Rebates may be requested on line or through the mail and received in the form of a check or Walgreen's gift card.

IVC - Instant Value coupon found in Walgreen's monthly Easy Saver booklet, these coupons can be combined with manufacturer's coupons, Walgreen's 7 day coupons  and Walgreen sale prices.

SCR / Single Check Rebate - This is the Rite Aid rebate program. Single check refers to the fact that they will only pay once for each rebate period so once you request your check you cannot request any more rebates. Often items may not appear to be a spectacular deal at the beginning of the month but as additional coupons come out and the store runs sales each week they often correspond to items in the rebate catalog for deep discounts and free items. Fortunately the online system allows you to input your receipt information for each purchase and then save it until the end of the month. It is a very user friendly site.

ECB - Extra Care Bucks.  These are the rewards generated at CVS drugstores for purchase of specific items when you use your CVS extra care card.The "bucks" are shown at the bottom of the receipt and not recorded on the card account so like a Walgreens register reward you need to hold onto that piece of paper to redeem. CVS is a particular favorite among the internet blog community for the exceptional values available. Unfortunately the nearest CVS stores are located in Modesto and Reno NV.   CVS purchased Long's drugs at the end of 2008 and will be converting most of the stores by the end of 2009.

Coupon Blog terminology

AR - After Rebate

BTFE - Box tops for Education - a small symbol on many General Mills products. These can be redeemed by schools for 10 cents per symbol. Some people will trade for them on coupon trade forums. If you don't have school age children consider donating them to a local school. The program can be an excellent special income generator for schools to use. During back to school you will often see double BTFE rewards on items favored by kids.

CAT - Catalina Coupon

Coupon Fairy - An individual who places clipped coupons on or near the item they are intended for in a store.  Coupon users who have coupons they will not be using do this as a random act of kindness for other shoppers. This is a great thing to do with both multiples you don't need and coupons you will not be able to use before their expiration date.

CRT - Cash register tape

Double / Doubled - In very competitive markets some grocery stores will offer to double or even occasionally triple manufacturer coupons. Frequently internet blogger posts of deal scenarios will note a price of $1.00 and a coupon of $.50 and report the item as free because their local stores double coupons.

EXP - expires or expiration date

FAR - Free after rebate

Because stores are fully reimbursed for the face value of manufacturer coupons plus a small handling fee they will advertise items with in store sales and rebates that when combined with a coupon will result in an item being free to the customer. Rite Aid uses this marketing approach very heavily showing the deal combinations in their Sunday advertisements and placing the featured items on endcap displays in the store with signage saying "Free" with coupon / rebate etc. Because these deals are put out to the general public it is advisable to go to the store as early in the week as possible because they are usually limited to stock on hand and frequently sell out quickly.

FILLER - The Walgreens cash register systems will not allow the cashier to scan more coupons than number of items being purchased. So when combining a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon (2 coupons for 1 item) you will need to purchase additional items to allow both coupons to be scanned. Items purchased as part of a multi coupon "deal" just to allow the extra coupons are referred to as filler, these items are either very inexpensive (candy bar, gum) or items the shopper needs personally but does not have a coupon for (milk, eggs, etc).

GDA - Good Deal Alert

RAK - Random act of kindness - providing an small favor or benefit to someone anonymously and without knowing who it benefits like leaving coupons on products or paying a bridge toll for the car behind you in line.

LOND - Land of no Doubles - refers to areas where stores do not double coupons. I live in the land of no doubles.

Matches / Matching - Using a coupon in conjunction with a store sale, clearance price, promotion, reward or rebate offer. This results in the lowest possible price for an item and in the best cases free or "profitable" purchases.

MBG - Money Back Guarantee

Money Maker -  Scenarios in which the value of a sales price, coupons, rebates and or reward offers can be combined to realize a net profit for the consumer.

1. I purchased a Hunt's tomato ketchup for $2.99 and had a manufacturer's rebate form for a rebate for purchase price up to $2.99. I also used a $.20 off coupon on the purchase.  Because manufacturer coupons are reflected at the end of the receipt the purchase price is listed as$2.99. I actually paid $2.79 for the item but will receive a rebate check for $2.99.  On this deal I realized a net profit of twenty cents. A relatively simple deal with a small reward
2. Combining a Kellog's back to school promotion with a Walgreen's promotion results in the following.

OOP - Out of Pocket.  This refers to the amount of cash paid at the register. For hard core couponers the goal is to keep out of pocket expenses as low as possible

Overage - When the $ value discount of a coupon exceeds the purchase price. In some cases the store registers will take off the full amount and any additional will apply to the rest of your total.

For example: You purchase and item for $.69 and utilize a $.75 off coupon, there is an overage of $.06 which at some stores will be applied to the rest of your total. However if you are only buying one item the overage will be lost because a store will not hand you back money, so if you know you have a coupon overage buy an additional item to absorb it.  In other cases the store will adjust the coupon to only match the price of the item and in some cases they will refuse the coupon all together. I have been able to apply overages at WalMart , Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target and Safeway. At Target I have had this go both ways - overage applied and coupon adjusted down to the sales price so it depends on the cashier

POP - Proof of purchase. Usually the receipt and / or UPC bar code from the packaging. These items are required for manufacturer rebates.

RC - Rain check

Rolling - Using a gift card, rebate or register reward received from one transaction on another deal transaction.  The goal is to apply a gift card or register reward received on one transaction to a transaction that will again result in register reward, gift card or Catalina coupon reward.  In doing so the shopper can keep their cash outlay low. Each time you are able to roll one reward into another you are reducing the cost per unit of the original transaction.

Scenario -  A specific shopping deal presented in a blog or post in which the poster will specify the items to purchase, coupons to use (frequently with a link to an internet printable site or the date and type of insert where the coupon was distributed), rebates available and any reward or Catalina generated from the purchase. The best posts will show you the items purchased, original retail price, out of pocket price, rewards or rebates received and net total.

Shelf -  This refers to the regular retail price of an item as displayed on the store shelf without discounts, rebates or coupons. Bloggers will often refer to their total paid out of pocket vs. the shelf price to show the total savings.

Smash and Grab - A term for when a bargain hunter goes into a store and takes all or almost all of a great deal item - particularly items that are free or money makers. Or strips all of a tear pad of coupons or peelies from products. The deal sites are a great source of information that allow EVERYONE to benefit from the collective knowledge and scouting of the couponing community so please don't pay it back by not leaving some for the rest of us.  There are people who snap up freebies, super cheap items or money makers to resell at garage sales, flea markets etc. Stockpiling a reasonable amount for personal use it acceptable and garage sales are ok but shoppers should limit themselves to allow other in on the deals.

Stacking - Utilizing multiple coupons or discounts for one item. Usually when there is a store specific coupon ( i.e. Target, Walgreens, Safeway ) and a manufacturer's coupon for the same item. Most stores will allow this but check the fine print. I have been able to stack up to three coupons for a single item by using a Walgreen's monthly Easy Saver booklet coupon plus a Sunday insert 7 day coupon and a manufacturer's coupon.

Straight Sale -  A deal that does not involve rolling or register rewards scenarios and multiple transactions but simply combining a sale and coupons.

WYB - When you buy - used in reference to promotions that require multiple purchases sometimes groups of products purchased together. For example I participated in a Target promotion in which I received a free ½ gallon of Dryer's ice cream with the purchase of three 12 packs of selected sodas. I was able to combine the promotion with manufacturer coupons for each pack of soda so I paid $5.00 for three 12 packs of soda.

YMMV - Your mileage may vary. This is a Blog term used when presenting a discount scenario. The scenario a blogger lays out may not result in the exact same discount for each person because prices vary at store across the nation (and I have seen repeatedly that California prices are higher than what most bloggers post), promotions are often run on a regional basis , coupons are distributed in different areas and there are frequently multiple versions ($ amounts) floating around at any given time for the same product and sales tax applications vary by the way items are rung up. In addition bloggers report different cashiers at the same store or different locations within a chain handle coupons differently as I noted in the overage section above.  I have however found that using the blog examples is a great way to find and organize deals for maximum savings with minimum time investment.