Friday, March 6, 2009

Internet Magic Friday

Jane Booras is the Editor of numerous newsletters including our Campus Times. She will be sharing how you can find whatever you need - photos, clipart, information, maps, phone numbers - on the Internet.

These days, it’s safe to assume that most consumers like you and me are looking to save a buck, and for a host of Internet entrepreneurs, that spells an opportunity.

A slew of new web sites offer coupons and online promotions and that’s good, but it can also be confusing and frustrating to weed out the really good deals from the duds. You see, the proliferation of these sites isn’t just about saving shoppers money. As part of their marketing programs, retailers offer cash to those web entrepreneurs each time the consumer makes a purchase from their store’s site. The enticements these sites use: coupons and other discounts. Each site uses a code so the retailers know where a customer is coming from.

But don’t let that deter you! There are good deals to be had. I think the best approach is to do a little research, then pick one or two sites you like and stick with them. For instance, you can go to hundreds of grocery coupon sites, and eventually you’ll find that most of them have many of the same coupons. So pick one you find easy to navigate, and forget the others.

Grocery Store Coupons

Here are a few of the more popular and well-respected sites. But of course you can always Google “grocery coupons” and choose your own.


This site offers as wide a variety of timely coupons as the grocery shoppers’ “gold standard,” the Sunday paper. The site’s layout is simple, which makes it east to find available coupons and then print them out. Enter your ZIP code to get coupons for stores in your immediate area, and also be prepared to download their coupon-printing software. It’s easy to do, and this site also gives you the option to add an icon to your toolbar so you can check back every day with just one click.

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Example of printed coupons
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 This site keeps its discount fare fresh and staffers update deals three times a day and check each coupon code to ensure that it works.

Others you might explore for grocery coupons are 

Restaurant Coupons

Another really cool “sport” is finding restaurant coupons. These usually appear as “gift cards.” In other words, you purchase (print) a gift card and pay, say, $5.00 on line to receive a $25.00 gift card (saving $20 when you use the coupon). Obviously, by your having made an investment in the card, the restaurant is virtually certain that you will use it. Again, you enter your ZIP code to get coupons for restaurants within 5, 15, or 25 miles of your home. The most popular site for this is restaurant.com, but you can Google around to explore others. I don’t know about you, but after a few minutes of exploring, I’m ready to just pick one and “run with it.”

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Examples of restaurant “gift card” coupons
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Other Stuff

For a sample of coupons you can get for stuff other than groceries and restaurants, go to retailmenot.com. Many small and large retailers post coupons for everything - including clothing, tires, balloons, flowers, you name it! Some store offer coupons for online shopping only, others for both online or in-store purchases. For instance, this week J.C. Penney is offering $10 off your online purchase of $10 or more! I did notice, however, that many of their coupons had passed their expiration date, however. What’s up with that?

Happy couponing. I routinely hear of web shoppers who claim to save so much money with coupons that the store almost owes them money when their leave with their groceries! I don’t go into this “sport” with all that much enthusiasm, but you’ll soon find that if you check your favorite site each day, print and take the coupons to the store, you can save several dollars with each trip – and in this day and age, every little digital bit helps!

But be careful. You can get addicted!

Jane Booras is Editor of the Campus Times Newsletter for Computer School for Seniors (www.cs4seniors.com)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post--such useful information!

Bill Witcher said...

Jane,

This is terrific. I am going to use that restaurant site for coupons from now on...I won't leave home without a coupon thanks to you.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tips!

Anonymous said...

Jane
Great job on your post---This is real Jane unplugged-Keep up the good job
Dave

David Berry said...
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