Saving a quarter - but at whose expense?

Like most of America, I am peripherally aware of the concept of "extreme couponing." (In case you live under a rock: This is where people use many, many coupons, 76 or something, per shopping trip to end up with a bill of $39 dollars for a cart with $258 worth of groceries.)

Time magazine this week had an article in their feature "What We Spend" on extreme couponing. Basically, couponers gather several newspapers' worth of coupons and cross-reference them with the in-store sales going on around town.

Example: Local grocery store offers in-store sale of 10 Tony's Pizzas for $10. Awesome deal, right? Not good enough for the couponers. They dig out the manufacturer's coupon good for $1 off of 3 Tony's Pizzas, and they have 3 of them. So now the store is having to give the couponer 10 pizzas, which normally retail for, what, $2.50? A $25 dollar value for $7.

Fine, whatever, good for couponer. They put forth the effort to do all the research and gathering, why not let them benefit? But then they have a buy-one-get-one for toothpaste. And that toothpaste happens to be half-off at drugstore. So they target store and for $2 tube, they walk out with 2 tubes for $1. I think. My math skills are way below extreme couponing.

However, the Time article left a sour taste in my mouth, which was not the gluten-free burrito I was eating at the time. Coupons are voluntarily given by stores and manufacturers to boost sales of select items. I get that. Also, discounts bring shoppers into the store in hopes that they'll purchase something else at full price while there. Again, I get that.

What I can't put my finger on is why I feel it is wrong to "work the system," a system that admittedly puts itself out there. Perhaps it is because many extreme couponers purchase things they do not need in quantities that NO one needs, just for the sake of having scored a huge deal.

Sometimes these excess goods are donated to charity. That tempers my feelings somewhat. But often, these goods are stockpiled in a room in the couponer's house specifically dedicated to stockpiled goods! That is ridiculous! (It's also hoarding. I can see it now on TLC: "Extreme Couponers - Hoarding Edition.") Seriously. You just took money out of a store for the sake of it, money that is going to trickle down to lower employee wages, eventually increase overall consumer cost, for what? The thrill of the deal chase?

I pay a shitload of money in medical expenses. Anyone who knows my history should be well aware of this. I hit my max out-of-pocket every year, without fail. I think that is the only thing keeping me from getting audited from the IRS in my deductions. If, for some reason, I don't hit my MOOP some year, that's going to send up a flag for sure : )

The point of this aside is that I USE MEDICAL CARE. I have a great need for it. I am not getting superfluous colonoscopies just because they're fun, mammograms because my volumptuousness should be counterbalanced or something. I am not stockpiling medical needs, as it were. I use them as I need them. And I need a lot of them.

Thus, I pay for them. Dearly. I am careful about costs. I use only generics. I recently switched from a generic tab to a generic capsule just because that was cheaper for my insurance company, even though it changed nothing in my prescription cost. And the capsule tastes like donkey dung. We all have our burdens.

So, extreme couponers of the world, let's graciously bear our burdens. Let's pay the generous-to-begin-with price of $10 for 10 entire pizzas rather than forcing the store's hand in cutting that price even further. Because, secretely? Does your family even LIKE those pizzas?