That’s how you mispronounce them.
“Koo-pon” is the correct pronunciation. “Kew-pon” is no more correct than calling clothing “kew-ture” or a messenger a “kyoorier.”
How Do Coupons Work in America?
- Thread starter Tulin
- Start date
“Koo-pon” is the correct pronunciation. “Kew-pon” is no more correct than calling clothing “kew-ture” or a messenger a “kyoorier.”
Not according to the first(American)woman on the show who pronounced it "KOO-pons". The second said the strange "QUEUE-pons".
Seems not even the two people on the show can both say it the same.
Figures.
^^ It's just an accent/dialect thing. Some people say "kyew-pon" and others "koo-pon."
Everyone in my family pronounces it the first way, including me.
Everyone in my family pronounces it the first way, including me.
If you will notice I was talking to the OP who I know is Australian and who says so in this thread. I believe it would be quite obvious to him that I also am from Australia. However if it was not a simple "where are you from" would suffice rather than a lecture about the efficacy of including real geography under my avatar.
Tulin we now have Costco in Melbourne.
Wait.. did I say that in lower case? My bad.
WE NOW HAVE COSTCO IN MELBOURNE!!!!!!!!!!
And you know what? It is FABULOUS. If I lived near it I would go there every single day, the fresh food alone is incredible. And the bulk stuff.. O.M.G.
We are frugal weirdos so we don't have a car, we went to Costco on the train. With backpacks. And a suitcase thingy with wheels. It was SO MUCH FUN. Like Disneyland for frugal food people.
Here is the link for where they are in Aus:
http://www.costco.com.au/Common/ContactUs.shtml
And yes the coupon thing is crap, but it's not only coupons we miss out on. Many things never reach bargain basement prices because we HAVE no basement here. Goods are returned to suppliers rather than discounted heavily and sent trickling down to bargain stores. There are probably good reasons for this but the coupons--a mystery.
Still, I live in hope. When I first came to this country there were no M&M's and now there are. So, you know, anything can happen.
I only shop at Tesco so I can collect their clubcard points.
Every 3 months they send me a book of vouchers which I could use in the shop, or spend on other things for bigger rewards. In 2 years I have collected enough airmiles for 5 free return flights to Europe or 2 return flights further afield like Moscow and still have one to Europe left over. I could even get one return flight to the USA or South Africa.
I'm thinking I might take a trip to Moscow, although in another year or so I will have a free flight to Japan...
Every 3 months they send me a book of vouchers which I could use in the shop, or spend on other things for bigger rewards. In 2 years I have collected enough airmiles for 5 free return flights to Europe or 2 return flights further afield like Moscow and still have one to Europe left over. I could even get one return flight to the USA or South Africa.
I'm thinking I might take a trip to Moscow, although in another year or so I will have a free flight to Japan...
They opened a Sainsbury's in my town last year. It's a real temptation to go there instead because the food is so good. But I resist. I get my wine from there occasionally though, you can get bored with one shop's range easily.
We now have 2 Tescos, a 2 storey ASDA, a Lidl and a Sainsbury's serving a town of 20,000 people. I don't know how they all survive.
We now have 2 Tescos, a 2 storey ASDA, a Lidl and a Sainsbury's serving a town of 20,000 people. I don't know how they all survive.
"Couponing" in the sense of "extreme couponing" also includes the idea of "rebating." Generally, coupons give you a discount of a few cents per item, as much as the cost of the item itself, as long as you buy a certain amount. Rebating goes a bit further; the company gives you back money for the purchase (as an incentive for you to keep buying that product). If you take both of these things to the extreme, you would be able to use a coupon for an item that also carries a rebate, use the rebate to purchase more items, and at the end of the day, you will have spent very little of your own money. If you combine couponing, rebating, and "loyalty card" discount programs, you could, with a great deal of effort and time, end up in the single digits.
It really is a big thing over here, there are folks that can make those fantastic deals work, but it takes a lot of pre-work. The Sunday papers (here in the Chicago area at least) always have the big batches of coupons, and some people are so mad for them that they started sealing them in a plastic bag folded inside the paper to keep people from stealing extra ones. We have out of state relatives ask us to get the Sunday paper every now and then and bring them the coupons, or sometimes they'll send us coupons they clipped from their paper that they think we can use (but we usually don't).
We also get in the mail, once or twice a month, something like a Val-pak, which is an envelope full of glossy, double sided little ads with coupons on them, from everything to carpet cleaning to pizza to legal/accounting services to vinyl siding for your house. They'll also make them seasonal, like lawn service in the summer and snow-plowing in the winter. Also, the phone books are generally printed with several dozen pages of coupons for the same kinds of things.
We generally don't bother. For one thing, hunting down the coupons and then keeping track of them is often more trouble than it's worth; and then we've also started shopping for hygiene/cleaning supplies in local co-ops and that saves a bit of money too.
When we get the envelopes I mentioned above, there's probably 30-50 coupons in them, and I'll flip through and pick out the ones for pizza or Brown's Fried Chicken, and recycle the rest.
One thing I do occasionally take advantage of is DVD/Blu-ray coupons from Disney and such. They'll put out $5-$8 coupons for new releases, and combine that with a release day sale price and you can make out pretty well.
We also get in the mail, once or twice a month, something like a Val-pak, which is an envelope full of glossy, double sided little ads with coupons on them, from everything to carpet cleaning to pizza to legal/accounting services to vinyl siding for your house. They'll also make them seasonal, like lawn service in the summer and snow-plowing in the winter. Also, the phone books are generally printed with several dozen pages of coupons for the same kinds of things.
We generally don't bother. For one thing, hunting down the coupons and then keeping track of them is often more trouble than it's worth; and then we've also started shopping for hygiene/cleaning supplies in local co-ops and that saves a bit of money too.
When we get the envelopes I mentioned above, there's probably 30-50 coupons in them, and I'll flip through and pick out the ones for pizza or Brown's Fried Chicken, and recycle the rest.
One thing I do occasionally take advantage of is DVD/Blu-ray coupons from Disney and such. They'll put out $5-$8 coupons for new releases, and combine that with a release day sale price and you can make out pretty well.
This extreme couponing is mostly a joke. Nobody needs a 150 supply of deodorant.
That is actually something that drives me fucking bat shit. I say "KEWpons" my husband says "COOpons". I love him but i want to punch him in the head everytime he says it that way.
Like others have said, that show really is an example of UBER extreme couponing. I use to be really good at cutting them out and actually taking them to the store.
Then i stopped cutting them out all together.
Now i cut them out and rarely remember to bring them.
I honestly dont know how those women do what they do. Even at my BEST i could never buy that many groceries and pay so little. I also wonder if they actually USE most of the stuff they buy.
AND YES, those women who have shelves and shelves of stuff that they will NEVER LIVE TO USE are just obsessive/compulsive/hoarders. I look at all that stuff on their shelves and i want to punch THEM in the head. FUCKING DONATE some of that shit to food pantries for crying out loud!
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Amaris
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Well, my cousin gives her stuff away, because the coupons she uses requires a certain number of items to validate it, and she still gets them cheaper than if she were to buy one. It's why I don't worry about toothpaste. 
As for the pronunciation of "coupon", I pronounce it "coo-pon" due to my french speaking background.
As for the pronunciation of "coupon", I pronounce it "coo-pon" due to my french speaking background.
I recently signed up for a 'groupon' net site in the UK. One of the daily offers I received was "Red vein or leg thread vein treatment 87% discount ~ friendly and discreet approach" Does this mean they sneak up on you and then give you a cup of tea after? Needless to say I have not been tempted; by either the treatment, the dodgy approach or the free tea 
There are loads of these sites out there on the web, many 2 for 1 restaraunt deals, discount shopping etc. It's worth trawling through.
There are loads of these sites out there on the web, many 2 for 1 restaraunt deals, discount shopping etc. It's worth trawling through.
If you have willpower, this sort of thing is great. You have to remember that most of this stuff is either designed to hook you into either switching brands for things you regularly purchase, or trying out a product niche you wouldn't otherwise try, or simply getting you into a shop so you buy other stuff while you there as well as the coupon-related deal. But if you can avoid these self-evident traps and just use them for stuff you'd buy anyway (or use them as arbitraging opportunities to flip non-perishable, high-value bargains for a profit on eBay or whatever), you'll get a good deal.
Like Pingfah, I'm a pretty loyal Tesco customer as a result of their Clubcard scheme for the Airmiles, as well as using the coupons they send if they match up with things I'd buy anyway. And I've got into the habit of using their new online Pricecheck system, which gives you double the difference back if your receipt comes back as more expensive than a competitor's (I think, ASDA). What with the Airmiles I also get from Shell, Southern Electric and my credit card, I end up with free flights to Mauritius every other year, which is pretty good for stuff I'd be buying anyway, and it's no more expensive either.
So yeah, if you're careful, coupon-clipping, loyalty schemes, points accumulators and the like are good.
Like Pingfah, I'm a pretty loyal Tesco customer as a result of their Clubcard scheme for the Airmiles, as well as using the coupons they send if they match up with things I'd buy anyway. And I've got into the habit of using their new online Pricecheck system, which gives you double the difference back if your receipt comes back as more expensive than a competitor's (I think, ASDA). What with the Airmiles I also get from Shell, Southern Electric and my credit card, I end up with free flights to Mauritius every other year, which is pretty good for stuff I'd be buying anyway, and it's no more expensive either.
So yeah, if you're careful, coupon-clipping, loyalty schemes, points accumulators and the like are good.
It's probably a good thing we have no coupons as it is exactly the sort of thing I would go insane with.
I've read several books about profiles of millionaires and most are coupon clippers.
Indeed - in the first episode there was a woman who bought a box if cereal(IIRC)which offered a $1.00 discount from the shop. The box carried a FULL PRICE rebate for the cost of the item, which I presume had to be mailed in. So after getting the full price back she actually came out $1.00 AHEAD for each box!
Only in America!!!!!!
Somehow, I doubt the coupon clipping is what makes people wealthy! But those prone to being interested in being efficient with money, will be interested in saving it at many different levels.
For instance, I run every receipt I get from Tesco through their pricecheck system. This is really rather daft, looked at rationally, considering my income bracket and the time it takes to enter the data and print off any resultant coupon. But I figure that 20p or so extra here and there quickly adds up. The only time I wouldn't print off a coupon would be if the cost of the paper & ink outweighed the value of the coupon. I reckon the crossover point with my printer is about 5p. Yes, I'm petty enough to have even thought about that. But I'm also just as thoughtful about managing larger sums of money and ensuring I'm as efficiently invested as possible.
Lots of people don't bother/forget to send them in, remember, so you have to factor that in to the overall cost to the company.
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