Need Vs. Greed

Many people who coupon (or simply bargain hunt) know that when a great deal comes up, you buy more than what you need at the moment & keep some for later. It's generally referred to as "stockpiling." When you first start couponing, you will likely notice that you're spending the same amount of money, but getting more stuff. However, after a while, you should see that you are spending less. Why? Because of your stockpile at home.

I'm all for stockpiling; I do it myself. If it's an item I will use. I don't need to buy diapers anymore, so I don't go out & stockpile diapers just because you can get them for $3 a pack. However, there are people that do that. And I'll admit it: They annoy me.

Here are the 2 kinds of couponers that I have a problem with.

1) Shelf cleaners. I'm referring to the people who walk into a store looking for one item that's on sale & buy every last one of them. Really....do you need 65 boxes of Tampax? What about the other people out there who need some tampons? Call me crazy, but I think buying 10 boxes & leaving some for others is the way to go. It brings good Coupon Karma your way.

2) Seek & Destroyers. These are the people who will destroy the deal for everyone else. They are similar to shelf cleaners, but go one step farther....they ruin it for everyone. And ironically, they often do this on items they don't even need. They take things to the extreme & force stores to pull the items off the shelves, or cancel the promo altogether.

And this is the case with the free Purex deal at Fred Meyer & Kroger affiliates that is going on right now. 50 oz. bottles of Purex are on sale for $1.99 with the in ad coupon, but if you buy 2 bottles you get a $4 Catalina coupon for your next purchase, essentially making those 2 bottles of Purex free. Sounds like a good deal if you need laundry detergent. Heck, it's even a good deal to buy a few & donate them to a food bank. But some idiot in the Cincinnati area went into several Kroger stores & bought 800 bottles of Purex. 800 BOTTLES. Seriously, who needs that many bottles of laundry detergent? Um...no one! So now Catalina is pulling the $4 coupon deal. Sure, you can still buy them for $1.99 a bottle, but you can't get them free. All because some jerk (I want to use a different word, but in order not to offend any readers, I'm going to stick with "jerk") had to go & ruin it for everyone.

So go ahead & stockpile. Go ahead & buy a few items to donate to the less fortunate. But before you go insane, clean the shelves, & ruin a deal that others could benefit from, ask yourself "Is this need or greed?" If everyone acted with integrity, couponers wouldn't get harassed by clerks & deals wouldn't get pulled like this.

OK, my rant is over. Hopefully I didn't offend any readers. If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue.