A Little More on Ethics.....

You all know how I am about ethics here at Simple Saving Savvy. Well, fellow blogger Carrie, from Pocket Your Dollars, just published on awesome post on "intentional misstatements". You'll want to jump over there and check it out!

Then come back here and let me know what you think!

And as always, please hold me accountable!!

FREE Downy Wrinkle Releaser Coupon legitimate????

If you see this coupon on other sites...

keep reading before you print and use it....

taken from the comment section at MoneySavingMom:

"This coupon originally came about as a promotion several months ago- 'Submit a picture of something wrinkled and you'll receive a coupon for a FREE travel sized bottle."
http://www.utahdealdiva.com/2009/09/free-downy-wrinkle-releaser.html
initially when you participated in the promo, you received an email, to which you were able to print the coupon from this PDF. Shortly thereafter, the coupon changed format- although some people still had this PDF and have been spreading it around on various freebie sites since then! I don't think Downy meant to release it to the public as a PDF... I imagine it will only be a matter of time before it's deemed "Fraudulent." Just FYI, Crystal..."

"This coupon is legitimate - available on the Downy website. However, it is offered in exchange for submitting a photo of wrinkled/not wrinkled clothing.It's never a good idea to print a PDF coupon that you did not access yourself, via manufacturer's website. :)"

My thoughts....many times people gain access to special offers that are not supposed to be shared publicly. When this happens, and they do share with everyone, not only does it create confusion, but it makes manufacturers less likely to offer those great incentives in the future.

My advice, no matter how you might be able to get around it, stick to the basic rules. The fact that this coupon is a PDF, is not available on the manufacturer site, front and back are obviously printed separately AND there's evidence that this was/is part of a special promotion let's me know that this is an offer I need to pass up.

Where can I find the Target DVD deal on your site??

I received this email:

"I ran into a nice lady in Target that told me about your awesome site! She was telling me about the dvd deals with the UP movie. But, I can't seen to find the info on your site."

First of all, I don't know who this "nice lady" was but thank you. I have not posted this deal at Simple Saving Savvy so I'm not sure if she was actually referring to me or not. She may have been speaking of Christi's (2) Cents...another awesome savings blog which referred her readers to Southern Savers...another great savings site.

The reason I have not posted this deal is because the only places I can find the $10/2 Target printable is on a Target coupon generator or as a gif file on another site. I don't think it's directly available anymore.

You all know my stand on digitally reproducing coupons so I don't feel comfortable about posting this deal. (If you don't know how I feel about this, you can read here and here)

If anyone has a DIRECT link to this coupon they would like to share, I'd be happy to post it!!!

Dr. Pepper Printable Update ~

Yesterday I posted that there was a Target printable for Dr. Pepper circulating. Well, it took until today to make the rounds but it's everywhere.

I have seen two different links for it. One is a SmartSource link that goes directly to print. Another is actually a bricks link.

Let me explain why I am warning against this coupon.

The coupon IS a valid coupon. However, the fine print on this coupon reads "this coupon is intended for use by the original recipient only". So the coupon is a valid coupon but ONLY for those who directly received it.

Using this coupon if you were not the original recipient or distributing this link would be considered fraudulent.

For long time readers, remember way back when the $4.00 Pace bricks link was circulating? Everyone thought it was legit because it was a bricks link but it turns out that the coupon was a prize for participating in a contest on the Pace website. So it was legit, but it was only valid for the "original recipient". Someone who won the contest started circulating the link.

I think this may be a case like that.

Let your conscience be your guide.

Walgreens Employee Coupon Policy ~

Thanks to A Thrifty Mom, we can view a copy of the new "agreement" all Walgreens employees must sign. Hmmmm....no mention of using only one Register Reward per transaction. It does say to abide by the fine print. Interesting!

Please don't take this to your local Walgreens! I posted this so that you would be confident in requesting manager assistance when you know a cashier is giving you wrong information.

Update on coupons in Cookie Magazine ~

Last week I posted about the coupons offered at Cookie Magazine, an on-line publication. There was concern that the coupons were not legitimate. Today, Common Sense for Money posted a follow-up with a personal email from the Cookie Magazine Promotion and Event Coordinator:

Thank you for your concern about the School Year’s Eve coupon page available at www.SchoolYearsEve.com. On behalf of Cookie magazine, I apologize for any confusion these coupons may have caused. Unfortunately, two of the coupons were not meant to be included online. We have rectified this issue and confirmed the validity of the remaining coupons with each manufacturer. We encourage you to check out www.SchoolYearsEve.com, not only for the updated coupon page but for other helpful resources to throw a School Year’s Eve celebration of your own. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at advisors@cookiemag.com.

Thank you,
Danielle
Cookie Magazine
Promotion & Event Coordinator

So, as it turns out, the Bagel Bites and Tide coupons were NOT legit but the Sharpie and Dixie coupons are ok to use.

And from my viewpoint, I appreciate the number of people who approached me and told me they did not use their coupons. I love working with an honest crowd!

Responsible Couponing ~

By now you all know how I feel about honest and ethical coupon practices. I try to educate my readers as much as I can about fraudulent coupon use and what it entails. I also work overtime to make sure nothing of question is posted at Simple Saving Savvy, but ALAS! I am human.

And this human erred big time this week. Because I did not take the time to research it myself, I posted coupons in PDF format that were most likely scanned copies and not directly linked to a legitimate website. The coupons I am referring to are those from the Cookie Magazine.

Many thanks to Mercedes at Common Sense With Money for catching what I did not.

I am quoting from Mercedes' post:

"Most manufacturers are moving away from releasing coupons in pdf form. You can be sure that most large companies are now trusting technology such as Bricks, or coupon providing services like Coupons.com or Red Plum, to release their coupons. There are some manufacturers that have made it clear they don’t release printable coupons in pdf format. One such manufacturer is Procter & Gamble. This is the reason when I saw these printable coupons available on the Cookie Magazine website earlier this week I knew they were unauthorized and most likely the result of someone scanning the magazine. One of the coupons was for Tide detergent, which is one of Procter and Gamble Products.

Practice common sense and read the details. Continuing with the example of the Cookie Magazine coupons, if you read some of the coupons you can discern that this is a scan of a coupon not the actual coupon. For example, the Bagel Bites coupon states on the face of the coupon to look at the reverse side for details. But you have no reverse side to look at, do you?"

I have to admit that I did not read the fine print on the coupons and I did not do my homework. Effective immediately, I have removed these coupons from Simple Saving Savvy and if you printed them, I strongly encourage you to dispose of them as well.

To be on the safe side, don't trust printable coupons in pdf or jpeg form that are not hosted or cannot be found on the manufacturer's website. And even if a reputable website or blog distributes these, always question it. I, for one, would definitely appreciate the back up and accountability.

Fraudulent Coupons - Nurture future savings by....

SAYING NO TO FRAUDULENT COUPON USE!!

Unfortunately in this fallen world, every good thing is marred by the sinful nature of humans. The “coupon game” has not been left untouched by this phenomenon. Our tendency towards greed and selfishness and the need for instant gratification affects even the world of couponing. As a 3-year coupon veteran, blog owner and on-line community member, I am bombarded by fraudulent coupon use everywhere I turn. If you are a coupon user and you haven’t been faced with this yet, rest assured, you will.

Using coupons in a way other than what the manufacturer intended is wrong. This includes but is not limited to:

~Using the coupon for an item other than what the coupon states
~Using the coupon for another quantity
~Obtaining a coupon from an unauthorized medium
~Reproducing a coupon in any way (this includes scanning, photocopying, digitally reproducing, etc.)

We are living in the age of technology and with the invention of Internet distributed and printable coupons, coupon fraud is at an all time high and this makes you more susceptible without being aware. For this reason I am going to focus on “Internet coupon fraud” . Readers sometimes send me links to “amazing” coupons they want to share and I have to sadly inform them that the use of these coupons would be fraudulent.

Sometimes it's not even that the coupon itself is fraudulent but the use for which it was intended is being violated or exploited. For example, if a coupon is given as a reward for going through a sign-up process or participating in a survey, it would be fraudulent to circulate the link to that coupon for others to print all the while not having participated in the requirements to receive said coupon.

Most of the time, it is not the intention of others to promote the use of a fraudulent coupon. They are actually not aware that the coupon IS fraudulent.

I don’t want to scare you away from using Internet coupons, however, I do want to make you aware of what’s out there and share with you a few ways you can determine if the coupons you are printing or sharing are legitimate and legal.

If you have ever received a coupon via email for a free item or maybe an amount that is too good to be true, you may be looking at a fraudulent coupon. There are a few resources at your fingertips for researching the validity of a specific coupon:

~You can visit the Coupon Information Corporation at www.cents-off.com to verify the authenticity of those coupons. The CIC is an entity dedicated to fighting coupon fraud and they work closely with manufacturers and retailers to fight coupon misredemption and counterfeiting. They keep a list of coupons that have been identified as fraudulent by the manufacturers. If you are ever in doubt, look it up on this resource.

~Hot Coupon World has a forum called “It’s Got To Be Real”. This forum helps members track and identify fraudulent coupons. I have used this forum more than once for my own questions.

Sometimes these resources can take time when you want an answer NOW so in all cases, use your own common sense in determining the authenticity of the questionable coupon:

~If you received a coupon in pdf or jpg form that cannot be linked back to a manufacturer’s website, chances are it is fraudulent. Coupons for FREE items that can be printed from your home computer should set off a red flag for you. Just because the web address is listed in the printable link does not mean it’s valid. Go to the website and see if the coupon is offered directly through the website before printing.

I personally do not advocate buying coupons from eBay and other sources. However, if you do purchase coupons, always be wary of “buying” FREE item coupons that you know did not come from a newspaper insert.

~Always be concerned when a seller has more than one free item coupon on sale and it is selling multiples of it. FREE item coupons are usually mailed directly from the manufacturer to the consumer. They almost always have a watermark or hologram on them to prevent copying and coupon fraud. It is very rare that one person will have multiples of the same free item coupon.
~Always email the seller and confirm with them that the coupon was mailed to them directly from the manufacturer. If they can’t verify this information, don’t buy those coupons, because chances are very good that they are fake.

If you learn that a coupon you have purchase is fake, contact the seller and the marketing source immediately.

Fraudulent coupon use hurts us all. It may get you a good deal “here and now” but the more money companies lose through fraudulent coupon practices and prosecution costs, the less eager they are to provide consumers with future amazing offers. And I don't know about you but doing things the honest and ethical way provides my family with more FREE and CHEAP STUFF than we can even use ourselves. I want to keep it that way!

Using Expired Coupons ~

It has come to my attention that there are many sites out there that advocate using expired coupons. Their philosophy is "if the computer doesn't beep, then use them".

Simple Saving Savvy DOES NOT advocate or condone this practice.

There is one instance where it would be acceptable to use expired coupons and that is when a store's specific coupon policy states that they will honor expired coupons. I'm not sure why they do this except maybe they figure the business this practice brings in outweighs the amount of money they have to eat by covering expired coupons. I know that there are no stores in my area that have this policy.

The manufacturers put expire dates on their coupons for a reason. Using them outside the guidelines for which they are/were intended is simply put: FRAUDULENT coupon use.

As I have stated before, the more people abuse coupons, the less likely manufacturers are to offer AMAZING rebates and coupons. Don't ruin it for everyone else.

On a more positive note, consider donating your expired coupons to overseas military families. It is legal for overseas military commissaries to accept coupons within six months of expiring. Click here for more information and here to find a military base to send your expired coupons to.

Eating my words.....on Red Box free movie codes

I have always promised my readers to approach this whole money saving game with honesty and a commitment to ethics. I have also promised to gladly "eat my words" if the facts ever proved me wrong. And I am more than happy to do just that in this case because it means MORE SAVINGS for us all!

I decided to email Red Box regarding the sharing of their free codes with others and here is their official response:

Hello,
Thank you for your email. We do encourage the codes to be shared with family and friends so it is fine that blogs and others are giving out the codes. Thanks for checking with us.

If you have any additional questions, comments, or concerns, please let us know and anyone in customer service would be more than happy to assist you.

Thank you,
Nicolette
Redbox Customer Care
1.866.REDBOX3
www.redbox.com

I would also like to offer my humble apologies to all blog owners who have been sharing these codes for accusing them of splitting hairs. While we may not ALL always agree on the best savings practices, we can always strive to respect one another.


This is my original post on 4/17/09:

I have been seriously couponing for three years now and have crossed over into addiction for the last two of those three years. And although I have always used the Internet to find deals, it was mainly through membership in a couple of different on-line communities, never through reading personal blogs.

That being said, I never thought three years ago that I'd be "blogging" myself! And I must confess that I'm learning as I go.

In an on-line community, there will always be those that march to a different drummer or are guided by different motives. And you learn to overlook quite a bit and just rest in being true to your own conscience. But blogging is different. When you own a blog, everything published on said blog reflects who you are.

For those of you who are regular readers of Simple Saving Savvy, you know that my goal is to strive for integrity and to maintain an ethical approach at all times.

This brings me to the topic of publishing certain Red Box FREE movie codes on personal blogs.

When I first started Simple Saving Savvy, I found free Red Box codes published on a couple of other blogs and I published them on my blog without blinking an eye. This was before I registered, myself, on Red Box.com.

Once I registered, this is what I found. Once you create an account with Red Box, there are a couple of different options they give you.

1) Sign-up to receive regular emails and get a FREE movie rental code.
2) Sign-up to receive text messages and receive a FREE movie rental code every Monday.

So these free codes are meant to be a "reward" for signing up to receive text messages or emails. These codes are NOT meant to be published on every blog across the nation.

Now I am well aware that everyone is able to go sign up for themselves and receive the same codes. But here's a case scenario:

Say someone does not have unlimited text messaging on their phone. Let's say they do not sign up for text messages from Red Box but they do rent movies from Red Box. Then is it ok for them to use the "reward" code when they have done nothing to earn the reward?

Is it ok for bloggers and other websites to publish all of these codes?

To some this may seem like splitting hairs. To me, it is maintaining integrity and playing by the rules.

Those who abuse the rules will end up ruining it for us all. When it's all said and done, I don't want to be part of that group!

Solution? Sign up for regular emails and texting and you'll get the free codes sent to you PERSONALLY!

My two cents.......on the Target Coupon Generator

The following editorial is over a very controversial subject in the coupon world. So by choosing to publish it, I am running the risk of maybe losing some readers and maybe even creating a "name" for myself in the world of money saving blogs and message boards.

This is a risk I am willing to take. I am willing to risk it because at all costs and among all who come here, I want two things to stand out: this blog is to glorify my God in EVERY way and this blog takes the path of honesty and integrity in all that is posted.

Have you all heard of Target Coupon Generators? If you have been using coupons and doing on-line research for any length of time, you have probably happened across a Target Coupon Generator and know what I'm speaking of. However, if you are new to this game, then you may be saying to yourself right now, "Huh? What's she talking about?".

Target publishes printable coupons on their website that can only be used at their store. These are referred to as Target printables.

The coupons are usually published with a four week expiration date, however, Target publishes a new round of coupons every two weeks and the ones published two weeks prior are no longer available. So to be able to use these coupons until their expiration date, you have a two week time frame to print multiple copies. There is no limit to the number of coupons you can print. If you do not think to print multiple copies, you will no longer be able to print those coupons from the Target website after that two week period.

The other thing about printing from the Target website is that if you choose to print several of just one coupon, it will print just that one coupon per sheet of paper. You cannot print multiples of the same coupon on one sheet of paper.

So in the name of convenience, paper conservation and lack of fine print some technological genius figured out that she could electronically reproduce the coupons from the Target website and post them on another website for people to print.

Here are the reasons I have been told this was done and why it is "ok" to do this along with my answers:

Reason #1: The coupons haven't expired yet. If Target didn't want us to use them, they would make them with a shorter expiration date.

My answer: It isn't about the expiration date. It is about the source. If you have coupons that were printed from the official Target website and have not expired yet, then by all means, use them. Many coupons from the Target Generators are no longer available on the Target website. They shouldn't be available anywhere else either.

Reason #2: These are coupons that are available on the Target website but if you only want to print one coupon, then it only prints one coupon per sheet. We're just trying to help people save time and paper.

My answer: Whether in the spirit of convenience or conservation, the coupons are still being reproduced. Maybe they are not being scanned or photocopied, but reproduction is reproduction be it electronically or otherwise. Last time I checked, this was defined as fraud!

Reason #3: Target coupons do not have a printed disclaimer disallowing the reproduction of their coupons.

My answer: If this makes it right and legal, then why don't we all just print one copy of the available Target printables and then photocopy as many copies as we want? Wouldn't that be the same thing? Is anyone going to do this? Well, the criminally minded might, but no honest, ethical person is going to try this. And if Target knew you had photocopied their coupons, would they accept them? If you wouldn't photocopy it, why would you electronically reproduce it? Let's not split hairs here.

Reason #4: Target has not prosecuted so they obviously don't have issues with it.

My answer: I don't have a pat answer for why Target has not prosecuted various websites over this. But I did contact Bud Miller at the Coupon Information Corporation, and he simple wrote back "Frankly, I am surprised Target hasn't pursued this yet". This is an organization that deals with coupon fraud all day long. Maybe it's because Target has bigger fish to fry. Maybe it's because they may "actually" not have a problem with it. However, I challenge you to find a website or message board that has explicitly been given permission from Target to reproduce and publish their coupons. My guess is that there isn't one. If I'm wrong, then I'll joyfully eat my words and start using their coupon generator!

In the beginning, I mentioned my reasons for writing this post but there is a third reason: protection for my readers. There are many people reading this blog that are new to the coupon game. And when you first get started, there is an overwhelming amount of information to take in and the on-line resources available to you are limitless. I want you to be aware of all that is out there and the pros and cons.

To print from the Target Generator or not to print, the choice is yours. Each of you is the possessor of an individual conscience.

But at least you'll know why I do not post links to Target Coupon Generators at Simple Saving Savvy.