An Open Letter To The Coupon Using Community

Dear Fellow Coupon Lovers,

I'm beginning to get a little annoyed with a small handful of you who have lost your darn marbles when it comes to shopping and deal finding. It would seem that on more than one occasion during the last two weeks, near riots have broken out at local Meijer stores over freebie cut pasta and spaghetti. I understand that free things are amazing. I like them a whole lot myself. However, is there ever *really* a need for you to fill two entire carts with a shelf full of noodles and use 70 million coupons all at the same time? Is that polite, do you think? Fair? Just? Sane? I vote no to all.

Please, don't get me wrong, I love to find deals. I love to stock up. I once bought 40 cans of tuna fish for 9cents a piece, but I didn't do it all at once. I did not roll into a store, guns blazing, and clean the place out. I was not obnoxious about how the cashier 'better know how to ring these up'. There's something to be said for acting like a normal, rational, non-possessed human being while shopping, and I think there are a handful in this community of ours who have recently gotten out of control. I'm ashamed of them, honestly. I continue to use deals to feed my family for less, but I cringe whenever someone associates me with 'those other coupon ladies' because I hear horror story after horror story from cashiers about rude, arrogant, spiteful people trying to hoard an entire store's worth of merchandise in one lousy trip.

If you really think you *need* two full carts of noodlies, how about breaking it up a bit? You can always grab a few now and a few later. Or, if you can't get back later, you can just settle for the few that you were able to get. Be grateful, dear couponers, for the chance at saving money at all, and remember, it only takes a few to ruin something wonderful for a grand many people (for example, see previous post about coupon wording changes after the onslaught of attention began).

Mostly, calm down sometimes. Take a breath. Enjoy life. Enjoy the thrill of finding a great deal, and try to stop shoving it all into your cart so that maybe, possibly someone else in the world can share that thrill with you. I'm not at all saying we should stop everything, but instead that we should tone it down a bit, reel it in, and try to shop like normal people once in awhile.

Simply,

Em.