End of a coupon staple

Dec. 5 marked the end of an era when it comes to Internet printed coupons — the last of the old-style Target coupons expired.

Last week, Target introduced a new coupon-printing program on its website. What this means to consumers is that we will no longer be able to do unlimited prints of Target coupons. This is extremely disappointing, especially in Alaska, because we didn’t get to use the unlimited coupon system near long enough, in my biased opinion.

It also means the coupon system has become much more awkward to use.

The new coupon system works like this: You can now only access the coupons through Target’s website and you can only print each coupon a maximum of two times — sometimes less — per computer. The bright side of this is supposed to be that you can now print manufacturer coupons from Target’s site, much like coupons.com.

There are several things I do not like about this new system, other than the print limits on the coupons.

For one, you can’t tell if you are printing a manufacturer coupon or a Target store coupon until you actually have the printed coupons in your hand. Then you can look at the coupon and read if it is a manufacturer coupon or a store coupon. This leads to a lot of wasted ink on the consumer’s part. Just this weekend I printed off four coupons I did not need thinking they were store coupons I could stack with manufacturer coupons. This is also the only way you can read what the expiration date is on the coupons.

Second, the coupons print out about five times the size of the old Target coupons and are a lot more graphic intensive. Even the manufacturer coupons you can print off have the Target logo on them no less than three times per coupon. Once again, this leads to a lot of wasted ink from our printers.

Third, the fact that the manufacturer coupons have the Target logo on them no less than three times will lead to problems when you go to redeem them at another store. This is because about 70 percent of cashiers will assume they are Target store coupons because of the Target logo. I’ve run into this problem before. Just to warn the savvy shopper, this will lead to you having to speak to management, or wheedling your cashier into at least trying to scan said coupon to see what the computer will do.

So far, the new Target system for coupons seems very awkward to me and I’m seeing a lot of wasted ink and time in our futures until we can figure out how best to use this system. I ask that people please stick with those of us on the coupon blogs as we work our way through this learning curve right along with you. We’ll work through this new, more awkward, system together.

Erika Buswell runs a blog dedicated to coupons and deals in Alaska (http://alaskanbargainhunter.blogspot.com) and lives in Palmer with her husband and two children.