For all of us who wonder why we can’t use Extreme Couponing to buy a thousand dollars worth of groceries for three cents, why we don’t have our own bunkers full of free toilet paper and enough condiments to paint a mural on the side of the Empire State Building, we can take heart. There is more controversy that suggests that these impossible savings really are impossible.
Don’t get me wrong, of course. Coupons can be an amazing way to save money. I use them myself. An average coupon user can save 30 percent off of groceries. Dedicated couponers can raise that savings to 60 percent and even have some exceptional trips where they do pay just a few dollars for groceries worth five times as much, but today’s new coupon rules make extreme savings harder to come by.
Which, apparently, makes extreme couponers on television likely to cheat.
We’ve already heard how stores that are featured on the show will often waive normal coupon policies, such as doubling and tripling policies, in exchange for the free advertising. Stores have also admitted that they have overridden the cash register when it rejects a coupon. Those courtesies still aren’t enough for the show apparently.
The latest controversy surrounds a minor, 16-year-old “Joel” who, after the show, was caught using $400 worth of “free” toilet paper coupons that were forged or faked. The store tried to submit those coupons to the manufacturer, and the coupons were rejected. The boy’s mother had to pay the store for the her son’s fraud. None of this was ever shown on the TLC Extreme Couponing show or disclosed to its viewers.
Another recent controversy with the Extreme Couponing show came to light as well when one grocery store, Lowe’s Foods in North Carolina, came forward to reveal that they regretted participating in the show, since much of it the savings was staged, including store employees who pretended to be customers to increase the dramatic effect.
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