Understanding Manufacturers' Coupons: As Good as Cash!

Smart Shopper
Does the following scene sound familiar? You've clipped the special coupon from your local supermarket's newspaper ad or in-store circular--the one that offers an item free with a specific minimum purchase. Armed with your grocer's written promise of this bit of extra compensation for your months or years of loyal patronage and faithful economic support, you carefully select a number of items, which (though you may be a little low on funds this week), add up to or slightly exceed the designated purchase amount.

After the mission (of squeezing as many necessities as possible into that "grand total") is at last accomplished, you approach the checkstand with a spring in your step, a smile on your face, and a deep-down satisfaction such as only a fellow shopper can fathom.

Anticipated Reward
While the checker totals your order, you visualize your children's pleasure at receiving these delectable embodiments of your shopping skill and reflect on just how much your little (or big!) ones deserve them--with today's soaring food prices and dwindling dollar values adding up to fewer and fewer cookies in the family cupboard.

So far, so good.

When your purchases have been tallied, you reach for your coupons with confidence---What serious shopper wouldn't?--and they are subtracted from your bill, bringing you substantial savings, a fact you've always been rather proud of, truth to tell.

Coupon Dilemma
But, next thing you know, sweet satisfaction gives way to dread disappointment, as the checker informs you that you haven't purchased the required minimum to qualify you for the free item. And, sure enough, as you gaze with disbelief at the cash register total, you have indeed come up a dollar or two short of your projected "goal."