Coupon stacking

What It Means

Coupon stacking means putting two or more discounts on one item in the same purchase. The usual pair is a manufacturer coupon, which comes from the brand that makes the product, and a store coupon or offer, which comes from the retailer. Whether you can stack, and how many discounts count, is set by each store's own coupon policy.

How It Sounds at Home

• "I stacked the store coupon on top of the manufacturer one."
• "With both coupons it came out to almost nothing."
• "Does this store let you stack?"

The Breakdown

A short example. Rosa has a $1 manufacturer coupon for a brand of laundry detergent and a $1.50 store coupon from the retailer's app for the same bottle, which is $8.99 on the shelf. At a store whose policy lets her combine the two, she pays $6.49 a bottle, 27.8% off, and $12.98 for two.

Where it goes wrong

• She brings a second manufacturer coupon for the same bottle, and the register rejects it: Target, for one, allows a single manufacturer coupon per item.
• She buys six bottles because the deal looks good, then finds out the coupons stop at a limit. Target caps identical coupons at 4 per household per day unless the coupon says otherwise.
• One coupon expired last week. At Target an expired coupon isn't accepted, so the savings she'd counted on disappear at checkout.
• Even with both coupons, the name brand costs more than the store brand she usually buys, so the coupons steered her toward the pricier bottle.

What to watch for. Read the coupon policy of the store you're shopping at, since each sets its own rules. Check expiration dates before you go. Compare the price after coupons with the store brand, and buy only what you'd use before it goes bad.

Good to Know

Target's coupon policy says one manufacturer coupon (paper or digital), one Target category offer and one Target item-level offer can be combined on a single item. It also limits identical coupons to 4 per household per day unless the coupon itself says otherwise, doesn't take expired coupons, and needs every coupon shown at checkout with a barcode that scans. Other stores write their own rules and can change them, so check the current policy on the store's website before a big shopping trip.

Related Terms and Categories

• Price matching

  A store policy of lowering its price to match a lower price for the identical item, found at a competitor or at the store itself.

• Cashback

  Money a card or program pays back as a percentage of what you spend, usually as a statement credit, a deposit or a check.

• Rebate

  Money paid back to you after you've paid full price, such as a mail-in rebate from a store or manufacturer; a return of part of a payment.

• Frugal living

  A way of living that spends carefully and avoids waste, so more of your money goes to the things you value most.

• Impulse spending

  Buying something on the spur of the moment, without planning for it or checking it against your budget.

• Budget category

  A group of similar costs, such as housing, groceries or transportation, that a budget plans and tracks together with its own amount.

Household money and budgeting