To couponers, those red blinkie coupon machines are like a beacon in a grocery aisle. You go up to one, grab a coupon and another one will automatically pop out. But if you take the next one, have you noticed that the next coupon doesn’t always pop out right away? Well, that is to prevent avid couponers from taking masses of coupons at once, especially because of coupon services selling the coupons. After all, if you find coupons on tear pads, who takes one or two, we usually take a dozen at a time! (And no, I don’t condone those couponers who think those tear pads are there to take all the coupons).
The blinkie machines go on a timer. If it is a coupon I know I will use before the expiry date (blinkie coupons often have much sooner expiry dates, and some are known to still spit them out after expiring, so double check!) I will make a second pass up the aisle after going down. Or you can send your kids to get an extra couple. Then before checking out, hit the machines one more time.
Don’t forget to check the shelves around the blinkie machines – often people take a blinkie and then if they don’t use the coupon will stick it on the shelf for someone else to use.
While blinkies are designed to be used in the store the blinkies are located in, they can be scanned properly at most grocery stores. As you coupon, you will come to learn what non-blinkie stores accept blinkies.
As always, double check the fine print incase they ever do make them store-specific. And they are often coupons that cannot be doubled.
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