Slickdeals Drugstore and Grocery Store Coupon Usage Rules and Guidelines

Everyone wants to save a buck or two, and coupons are a great way to achieve amazing savings on all of life’s necessities. But with great power comes great responsibility and everyone on the Drugstore forum is expected to live by the rules. Couponing takes time, and it takes effort on your part. There is nothing “easy” about it, and there is a learning curve that everyone must go through. The tools are here, and they are free, but it takes a special person to be a true couponer. You can expect to be humiliated, berated, and even be made to cry at least once. And you will make mistakes. We all do. But a true couponer uses that mistake as a learning tool and improves upon it. Good luck to you!

We’ll cover everything you need to know about how to use coupons properly and within the limits SD has set in place. I hope the below answers all of your questions, but if you need anything clarified, please don’t hesitate to ask.



The wording on the coupon is of utmost importance. $10 off one 14lb bag of dog food means just that. Using it on anything else is a no-no, and discussion of such activity on this board is not allowed.

“It scanned, therefore it must be ok.” As responsible coupon shoppers, we are expected to know what the coupon means and what item(s) it is to be used on. Using it on anything else just because it will go through is improper at best, and unethical, fraudulent, and illegal at worst. Proper couponing involves more than just clipping a few q’s and heading to the store…it involves lots of time reading and understanding the nuances of coding, as well as knowing each individual store’s policies. For the basics of coding, check out this thread (Coupon Barcode Basics). If you want to know more about how a particular store’s registers work, check out that store’s thread here in the Drugstore/Grocery Store Forum Index. Everybody makes mistakes, and we are not here to castigate each other for them, but rather to help each other learn the rules and abide by them as we all pursue the best deals to be found.

If a coupon states “One per Transaction” or “One per Customer”, then we must follow that wording. Any discussion of using multiples of a coupon with this language in a single transaction is not allowed.

I am sure that everyone here knows this, but I want to point it out just in case. “One per purchase” does NOT mean “one per transaction”. You can purchase 20 items in one transaction, and use q’s to cover those 20 items, as long as the q’s don’t say “one per transaction” or “Limit four per Shopping Visit” a la Proctor & Gamble (P&G). YMMV on convincing that grouchy old cashier otherwise, but you are completely within the guidelines of legitimate coupon usage.



Many stores will allow you to stack a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon together on one item (make sure your store allows this before trying it!). However, it is getting harder and harder to tell the two coupons apart. What is a Retailer Coupon? What about the one that says CVS/pharmacy Coupon across the top?

The bottom line is that ALL manufacturers’ coupons will have a 12 digit barcode that starts with either a 5 or a 9 (though some of the 9 ones may have an extra 9 in them, so they would be 13 digits). A true manufacturer coupon will also have a Remit To address and instructions so that the store can submit the q for reimbursement. These coupons will scan anywhere that accepts manufacturer coupons. As always though, pay attention to the wording. Some will say “Redeem Only At X Store”, and should be redeemed only at X store, as other stores may or may not get reimbursed for it. Note that this is not the same as “Redeem At X Store”…if there is no “Only” in there, you can use it anywhere (YMMV on your cashier, but it should be accepted if you can talk them into scanning it).

Store coupons will start with something other than 5 or 9, and can have more or less than 12 digits.

Wording at the top of the coupon is irrelevant to the scanner. All it sees is the barcode. If it is a manufacturer barcode, the register will accept it (with proper usage, of course) as a manufacturer coupon (MQ), regardless of whether the coupon says “Manufacturer Coupon”, “Retailer Coupon”, “Store Coupon”, or some other silly confusing phrase.

A coupon with a store specific barcode or other form of entry (for example, Publix q’s do not have barcodes, they have a 4 digit LU number that the cashier has to enter manually) is a store coupon, regardless of what the q says on the top of it. I cannot use Publix q’s with an LU anywhere other than Publix, and they should be considered store q’s. But again, be sure you pay attention to the wording and follow your store’s policies. Publix allows stacking a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon, but they recently put out a batch of store q’s that say “cannot be combined with any other coupon”…so coupons with that wording cannot be stacked with an MQ.



Coupons from many of the popular sites, including coupons.com, redplum.com, and smartsource.com, have identifying ID numbers and barcodes that can be traced back to your computer. Copying these coupons is a big no-no and can potentially lead to you being banned from one or all of these sites. You cannot print these coupons to PDF, nor are we allowed to scan them and post as PDF files (though why would you want to? All those folks making copies of your PDF q leads to you not being able to print any more). PDF’s of these q’s are not allowed to be posted. You can however post a link to the q on the coupon website.

Printing from these sites requires that you download and install their software program. There is no way around this; if you want to print the q, you have to have the program. It is free, and I don’t think anyone here has reported any malicious content or damage. If you are opposed to this download, that’s fine…but you’ll have to live without the q.

Some folks will trade Internet Printable (IP) coupons, but many others would caution against it, unless you know or trust the person you are sending it too. Remember, that IP can be traced back to you, and you can be penalized for someone else’s misuse.

Some manufacturer’s still release PDF coupons (though I can’t imagine why…). SD allows us to post a link directly to the source of the coupon, whether it be the manufacturer’s site, or the store flyer that contains it, or wherever it originated from. We are NOT allowed to post the PDF itself as an attachment, nor are we allowed to host it on Google docs or any other site. We are also not allowed to post MPP’s of these PDF coupon (multiples per page).



So sorry you missed that H-O-T Physicians Formula PDF, but begging is NOT allowed. Check out the RAOK thread here to see if someone is giving away the q you want, or check out the Coupon Trading Thread here to see if someone is willing to trade with you. Can’t find it? Take your search to PM, and see if someone is willing to send it to you. Or do a Google search…surely some site with lower standards than SD has it posted. Please do not post a request in the threads, unless of course you just want someone to mod alert you so your post can be deleted.



This is a big deal. We’re using 14 as an example, but the same rules apply for 02, 14, 16, and 19. If you don’t know what these mean, please stop now and head over to the Coupon Barcode Basics thread here, read the first post, and then come back.

Coupon wording is king, but if you intend to be a serious coupon shopper (and if you are here on SD, you do intend to be a serious couponer ), you need to know a little bit about coding as well. Some q’s will beep even with legitimate usage, depending on how that q is coded and how the store’s registers are set up. Knowing which ones will beep and why can be a tremendous help to you.

In a nutshell, a BOGO q that is coded 01 attaches to only one item. However, a BOGO q that is coded 14 attaches to two items. Here are some more concrete examples as laid out by Slayers750 (minor formatting changes, but the idea is intact):

Guidelines regarding a B1G1 manufacturer coupon with a regular manufacturer coupon
A) B1G1 coupons say buy X get Y free. If the coupon is coded "01", the coupon is only applied to the one that you get free, in this case Y.
There is nothing to say that you cannot use another coupon on the one product you are actually buying, in this case X. So YES, you CAN use a $1 off 1 coupon on X.
However, if the coupon is coded "14", then the coupon attaches to both items and you will not be able to put an additional coupon on the "X" item.

Example: Buy 2 HE products use one $1 off 1 HE and 1 X B1G1
This is YMMV according to many stores and only allowed if the coupon is coded "01".

If the coupon was coded "14" then you cannot do this as the register will beep. Asking the cashier to force through that coupon in this situation is not allowed.

The manufacturer can choose the coding in this case ("01") or ("14") and this determines if the manufacturer will allow you to do the above or not.

B) Using the example above you can NOT use a $1 dollar off two items because that coupon applies to two products.
Example: Buy two HE products and use $1 off WYB 2 HE products and 1 X B1G1. <--- This is not allowed.

OK to do: If you buy a total of four products you can use two B1G1 coupons + $1 wyb 2. In this situation you have four products: The two B1G1 coupons apply to two products and the $1 wyb 2 applies to the other two products for a total of four.
Again, this can only be done if the B1G1 are coded "01" -- if they are coded "14" then you would only be able to use the 2 B1G1 coupons only. This is YMMV according to many stores.

C) The rule of thumb is that you can NOT have more coupons than products.
Example: Buy two herbal essences use two $1 dollar off one product and one X B1G1. <--- This is not allowed. There are too many coupons for the number of products.

D) 'WYB' VS. 'AND': If a coupon says Save $1.00 on X WYB Y, you CAN use a coupon $1.00 off one coupon on Y. If a coupon says Save $1.00 on X AND Y, then you can NOT use another coupon on either X or Y because the coupon applies to BOTH products.

Example of an abusive situation:
You cannot abuse the system like this: Buy two of product x and use a coupon of $5 off two products of x AND also the $1 off product x just because the $5 off two products is only coded for one product ("74").

You purchase the following:
Olay Body Wash $8.99
Venus Spa Breeze $9.49
Zest 3pk $3.29
Total pre-coupon: $21.77

WRONG:
Coupons used:
Buy Venus razor get Olay BW Free
$2 off Venus razor
Buy OLAY BW get Zest soap free
This is called piggybacking, and is unacceptable to discuss on SD.

In the above scenario the coupons would apply like this
Olay Body Wash $8.99 Buy Venus razor get Olay BW Free
Venus Spa Breeze $9.49 $2 off Venus razor
Zest 3pk $3.29 Buy OLAY BW get Zest soap free You do not have two items to use this BOGO on at this time

I know that more lenient sites discuss, if not encourage, piggybacking. I also know that some stores have register programming that will find this acceptable. We at SD want to maintain integrity of the site and of couponing. after discussing and researching have taken this position.

The short version:
Is you need two items to apply one BOGO.
Your "BUY" may not also be a "GET"

Special Thanks to rydergal for authoring the framework of the guidelines wiki.

And rydergal would like to thank anyone and everyone that gave their feedback on my "first draft", including but not limited to reg036 and MsGal. Thank you!