Black Belt Shopper
(featured column)

Stackable Discounts
by Larry Wiener

When I teach couponing to my students, I always bring in two jars of a major brand of pasta sauce and ask them how much they think I paid for them. When they finally guess that the total was 18 cents, they are always amazed.

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A certain member of my family would be equally amazed if I were to tell him the real price of the shirt I got him a couple of Christmases ago. A highly touted brand from one of the nation’s most upscale department stores, I paid only $23 for a shirt that retailed for $85.

Both of these bargains are a result of using stackable discounts, a strategy of applying more than one discount to the same item. While using stackable discounts sometimes takes planning, it is a shopping strategy that can pay off mightily.

I got the pasta sauce when a neighborhood supermarket was having a buy one get one free sale. I had a one dollar coupon for that brand of pasta sauce which the store doubled.

I bought the shirt the day after Thanksgiving. The shirt had been on sale and the store was offering 25% all sale merchandise with an additional 15% the first two hours. They had a coupon in the newspaper and gave an additional percentage if you paid with the store’s card. They did this to get shoppers to visit that store first.

Stackable discounts means using more than one discount on the same item. It’s not a strategy you can use all the time because sometimes merchants will put on their coupon, "Not to be combined with other offers" or some other disclaimer that tells you that you can’t stack the discounts.

I have found stackable discounts abound in two places: the supermarket and middle to upscale department stores. 

Supermarkets in my area often put items on sale the same week that item comes out on coupon. That store even doubles coupons, which makes it easy for me. I just clip the coupon from the Sunday supplement, go to that supermarket and, bingo, a $30 grocery bill suddenly goes down to $13.

In your area you may have to work a little harder to get the stackable discount on groceries. You may have to clip the coupon, store it somewhere, and then buy the item when it is on sale.

Also, couponing policies are not the same in all parts of the country. If you don’t know the system in your area, try to find out. Getting stackable discounts regularly on supermarket items can literally cut a grocery bill in half.

Many couponers use a rotation system to take advantage of stackable discounts. For example, let’s say I note that the kind of ketchup I like is on sale and I have a coupon for it. Even if I already have a month’s supply of ketchup, I’ll buy the bargain. Doing this regularly on non-perishable items can cause the savings to mount up in a hurry.

I also find stackable discounts in upscale department stores, especially among seasonal items. The system works like this: An item is put on sale. Then on a specified day an extra percentage is taken off the item. Sometimes if you have a coupon or use the store’s charge or get there early or whatever, they’ll knock another percentage off.

Sometimes when I tell my friends about some of the upscale stores I venture into, they wonder how a black belt shopper can go to these stores. The reason is the stackable discounts. These stores are so anxious to move merchandise, to be current, and to have the latest fashion that they regularly move perfectly good merchandise. Of course you may not see all items in all sizes, but there’s plenty there.

If you want to use the stackable discount strategy, your local newspaper is your best friend. There you will find the grocery coupons and the store’s ads. There you will find the coupons and ads for the upscale stores. In some communities, those resources are only available in home-delivered papers, so you might want to check into that.

At first checking out the stackable discounts seems like a very laborious and time-consuming activity, but after awhile it goes really fast. You learn how to scan the coupons and grocery store ads really quickly and you learn to look at the department store ads very critically to know when they are having a real sale and when they are just saying they are.

For example, I have learned that one upscale store in particular has its most meaningful sales when they have coupons in the paper. Since that store is a half hour’s drive, I’ll only go there if there a coupons and if they are advertising something I really want or need.

Stackable discounts is a relatively sophisticated strategy, but when used systematically and regularly, the amount of savings can surprise you.

Now let’s see, I have a credit at that store and I see from the paper that they’re having a sale. Is it worth making the trip? I’ll see.

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Copyright © 2003 by Larry Wiener

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