Couponing Dictionary – The Terms That Will Help You Save Money!

Couponing comes with a huge number of very specific terms. Using this couponing dictionary to learn useful terms and abbreviations will help you understand what’s happening in stores, and on other couponing related websites. I’ve tried to round up as many as possible here. If you you find terms you don’t understand submit them on the contact page******** and I’ll add them!

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Balance Rewards – The Walgreens point reward system. You can get redeemable points on purchases, and bonus points on certain purchases. When you reach a threshold, you can use your points against your purchase total, basically like cash. Check the Walgreens article for more.

BOGO – Buy one Get one. Usually this means buy one get one free, but be sure to read the fine print. I’ve been seeing a lot of “BUY ONE GET ONE*” “*half off” or similar. In virtually all cases, you either have to get two identical products, or the the ‘get one free’ will be the lowest priced item(s).

BOGO50 – Buy one Get one Half off.

B1G1, B2G2, B2G1 –
B1G1=Buy 1 Get 1
B2G2 = Buy 2 Get 2
B2G1 = Buy 2 Get 1
A deal that requires you to buy a certain number of items to get others free. As with ordinary BOGO, the items all have to be identical, or when they don’t you’ll get the least expensive item(s) free.

Blinkie – Those little coupon dispensers attached to the shelves in stores. They have a coupon sticking out, a blinking LED light (hence “blinkie”), and will automatically start dispensing a new coupon when you take one. I’m sorry manufacturers, I can’t imagine how many of those I took for no reason when I was a kid!

Catalina or CAT – You know when they print your receipt, then there’s that other little printer next to it that makes coupons? Those coupons are Catalinas. Sometimes they’re standardized manufacturer coupons, sometimes they’re personalized based on your shopping. At Walgreens, sometimes they’re rewards based on purchases that you can use at a later date. Whatever they are, take them and read them carefully, they’re often really good!

Coupon Insert – That stack of coupons and promotional stuff in the Sunday paper.

Couponer – A person who is engaged in finding ways to combine deals and save money through couponing.

Couponing – The skill of stacking deals to get really good prices on merchandise.

Double, Double Day, Double Coupon Day – Some stores double all coupons. Some stores double all coupons on a certain day of the week. Other stores double all coupons below a certain value. Some stores have both last week and this week’s sales running for one day a week. These are all more old-school promotional styles, but sometimes you still find them around, especially at grocery stores. You’ll have to just read up or ask what it means at your store, because the term has been used in a lot of different ways.

ECoupon/Online Coupon – Coupons that you find online and either print, or present at the register by showing the coupon on your phone. Check manufacturer websites for printable coupons of your favorite products. Use an incognito/private window so it’s easier to print multiples if you want to. If you’re using a coupon on your phone, consider screenshoting it before you go in, especially if it’s a large concrete building. That way you won’t hold up the line while you phone tries to scrounge up a little wireless data to load it.

EXP – Expiration Date

Extra Bucks – The CVS points/rewards program. CVS advertises deals, and if you make a qualifying purchase your ‘extra bucks’ will show up at the end of your receipt. It’s similar to Register Rewards at Walgreens or Catalinas at some other stores. This is what makes CVS receipts legendarily long. As with most receipts, read them over carefully, there might be a lot of money in there!

Handling Fee – When manufacturer coupons are redeemed by stores, the manufacture pays 8 cents per coupon for handling. This either goes to the store if they sort the coupons themselves, or some sort of middle man if they submit them in bulk.

A handling fee may also be extra charges applied to a shipped product to cover the cost of boxing it up and labeling it.

Loyalty Card/Rewards Card – A program run by your store that gives you some kind of discount, points, or other reward for shopping there.

Manufacturer Coupon – A coupon printed by a company that makes a product. Procter & Gamble is big on doing this. You clip out these paper coupons, often from newspaper inserts, or sometimes printed from the internet, and hand them to the cashier at a store. The store then sends in the coupon to the manufacturer, who refunds this discount to the store, plus 8 cents per coupon for their trouble.

MFR – Manufacturer

MIR – Mail In Rebate – A form you fill out and attach to your coupon and/or UPC to get money back through the mail. They’re not so common anymore, but they used to be popular. Menards still uses mail in rebates to get your 11% back during their frequent promotions.

One Per Purchase – You can only use one of this coupon per item. (You can often also use other discounts and rebates, though.) 

One Per Transaction – One coupon per time you swipe your card or hand the cashier money. If you want to buy 3 things with 3 coupons, you’ll have to make 3 separate purchases. Try to do this when there’s not a line at the store, especially if you shop there a lot.

Instant Rebate – In some stores, a rebate is issued instantly as a discount, especially if you’re a member of that store’s rewards program. This is common at Ace Hardware.

P&G – Procter & Gamble, manufacturer of tens of thousands of household products, and purveyor or tons of newspaper coupons.

Peelie – A coupon stuck on a product meant to be peeled off after purchase and used later, or sometimes peeled off and used during the transaction. Make sure you carefully read a peelie’s fine print before counting on it to make a transaction worthwhile.

Purchase – A purchase is buying an item. Every item in a shopping trip is a purchase, even when rung up at the same time. This sounds weird, but it’s the basis of “one per purchase” coupons. If you have 3 identical “one per purchase” coupons, you can use them on 3 identical items in one payment. If you have 3 identical “one per transaction” coupons, you’ll need to pay for each item separately and complete payment 3 different times to use them all.

Purchase Based Coupon – These are coupons who’s value is dependent on your purchase total. For example, spend $20, take $5 off.

Raincheck – When a product is sold out, a raincheck is a slip of paper that entitles you to buy it when it’s back in stock, at the currently discounted price. Ask about them at the customer service desk.

Rebate – A refund of some or all of purchase, usually made by submitting a receipt, UPC, and form through the mail and waiting for them to send back a check or gift certificate.

Register Rewards – At Walgreens, when you buy certain products or combinations of products, you’ll get Register Rewards. These are paper coupons (Catalina style) that give you either a discount or points on a future purchase. Read the weekly ads or yellow shelf tags to find Register Rewards opportunities. These can be part a valuable part of coupon stacking strategies.

Rolling Catalinas – To use “rolling catalinas”, you would separate your purchase into multiple transactions. Get the catalina coupon from the first purchase and then immediately use it on the second, which would generate it’s own catalina, which you could then use on the third transaction… 

RP – Red Plum, a common Sunday newspaper coupon insert.

RR – Register Rewards at Walgreens. See “Register Rewards” for more.

SKU – Stock Keeper’s Unit – This is a number attached to a product that is specific to a store/chain of stores. A Walmart SKU is useless at Walgreens, but the UPC will (almost always) be the same.

SS – Smart Source, a common Sunday newspaper coupon insert.

Stacking – Using multiple forms of discount – coupons, sales, rebates, register rewards, etc., all on the same product, to reduce the cost – sometime to free, and occasionally to where the store owes you money.

Stacking Coupons – Usually this means combining a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon. It’s very rare to find two manufacturer coupons you can use on the same item.

Stockpile – A bunch of household goods you use frequently, that you’ve purchased at discount and stored in your home for later use.

Store Coupon – A discount coupon issued by a store.

Tear Pad – A stack of coupons that you can tear off notepad style, usually stuck on the shelf near the product.

Transaction – Everything you buy and pay for in one go. Leave with 10 items and only give the cashier money once? That’s one transaction.

UPC – Universal Product Code. The little black bar zebra stripes they scan on a product at the register. These can also be used to verify that the product matches the shelf tags at most stores to be sure you’re looking at the right price. Lots of apps have integrated UPC scanners now that let you double check that a product applies to a coupon or sale.

WAGS – Abbreviation for Walgreens.

WYB – When You Buy – an abbreviation used by couponers. As in, “these packages are $.75 cents each WYB 3”, which is to say, if you specifically buy three of them, you will get that price.

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