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Where to find Coupons – The Canadian Method
With the influx of people using coupons, places that offer coupons are finding more and more users visiting their sites. At the same time, more sites are starting to offer coupons to increase traffic and profits for them. But if you are in Canada and jealous of those in the States purchasing their items for a penny, fear not, you can be successful if you know where to look at how to shop.
Newspaper Inserts
Depending on where you live, there are inserts that come out in the paper various times during the year. Where I live, we get RedPlum and Smart Source. I find that the Smart Source is the better insert to get but even if you do not get either of these, you can still find them in other places. For instance, the Smart Source coupons are also available on their website to print at home. Smart source website
Tearpads
Have you ever been in a store and in front of the product there are coupons just waiting for you to take? These are called tearpads and they will give you a discount on the product. I have always treated them as a coupon to take if I am buying that product at that time. But, there are others that take these for future use which is fine too. Just remember that these are for everyone so do not take more than you need. If people abuse them, companies will no longer offer them.
Mailed out Coupons
- brandSAVER
- http://websaver.ca
- Save.ca - Coupons
Your source for free grocery coupons in Canada.
Mailed Out Coupons
There are several websites out there that you can go to and request various coupons. They will then print them and mail them out to you. This is beneficial to you as you do not pay for the ink but the downside is you have to wait for them so you need to plan in advance. Many of these coupons only allow you to request them once every month or two (it varies on the coupon and the site) so depending on what you require, you may want to consider asking a friend to request for you.
Printable Coupons
Printables
Ahhh, printables! These coupons you can print yourself, at home, when you need them. But beware; some stores will not accept printable coupons so make sure you familiarize yourself with the policies at the stores you like to shop. Also, depending on which website you are visiting, you will need to have your printer hooked up and ready to go immediately ie. Smart source . Other sites will let you save the coupon to your computer and print at your convenience in case you do not have a printer at home.
It seems that you need a Facebook account for everything these days and coupons are no exception. A lot of companies now offer an incentive that if you come to their page and “like” it you will get a coupon in return. You can find coupons for items that normally do not offer coupons this way which can be nice.
I have heard of people emailing some of their favorite companies and asking if they offer coupons. There is nothing wrong with doing this but make sure you keep track of where you have gone. Some companies will only let you request once a year and others will allow it more often. Keep track of who you have contacted so you are not contacting them every week – doing this will cause companies to no longer even offer this option.
Coupon Groups
If you look around the Internet, there are a variety of different coupon groups out there. I belong to a local one on Facebook but there is Redflagdeals.ca or Extreme Canadian Coupons that you can join for coupon discussions. The great thing about these sites is that you can find others that you can trade coupons with or learn how to coupon more effectively with. Different places get different coupons so while you may not be able to find a coupon for your favourite product at home, someone in the next province may have one you can have.
Other Sources
There are likely other sources that I have missed or did not mention such as coupons directly on products or in the packaging of a product, but that is pretty obvious.
If you look at eBay, you will find people offering coupons for sale here. I have not personally bought these but based on what other people have said, be careful when buying these and see if you can find out the source of the coupons. A lot of these packages seem to be made up of tearpads – people will see one in a store and take the entire pad and then sell it. I have also seen people who bring whole tearpads to coupon trades which give couponers a bad name.