A recent conversation in The Frugal Path household went something like this:
Mrs. Frugal Path: “On my way home I have to stop at the Dollar Tree. Oh, I almost forgot my coupons.”
Me: “Coupons? Are you going to the supermarket? Pick me up some cookies.”
Mrs. Frugal Path: “No, I’m not going to the supermarket. You can use coupons at the Dollar Tree now.”
Me: “Oh, you can? Cool.”
No, you didn’t read that wrong and it isn’t a misprint. You really can use manufacturer coupons at The Dollar Tree to rack up savings of half off to completely free!
The Coupon Policy
For the finer points check out the Dollar Tree coupon policy, but here are some of the important points:
- Only manufacturer coupons are accepted, no store coupons (You can’t use a Kmart or Kroger store coupon).
- They do not offer overages. You can use a $1.50 off coupon to get the item for free, but you won’t get the $.50 back.
- Coupons for free items are only accepted if you are required to purchase an item, such as a buy-one-get-one free coupon. You can’t use a plain “free” coupon.
Internet coupons are accepted, but have a few more caveats:
- Only 2 internet coupons are accepted per household per day. That’s 2 total. Even if you have 10 different internet coupons for 10 different items, only 2 internet coupons will be accepted.
- Internet coupons cannot be photo copied and must have different bar codes.
Bring their coupon policy with you
The Dollar Tree only recently started accepting coupons, from what I could find they began in August of 2012. To ensure that you receive the savings for your coupons, you should bring a print-out of the store’s coupon policy.
How we use coupons at the Dollar Tree
The Dollar Tree is a great place to use coupons. Because everything is a dollar, there are no sales to worry about. If they carry a product and you have the coupon then you can use it without worrying that someone else will clear the shelves. However, it can be difficult to find coupons for the products that they carry. To solve this issue, my wife uses The Krazy Coupon Lady’s Dollar Tree posts to find the best deals available.
Another reason we love couponing at the Dollar Tree is that coupons go further. Because everything is a dollar, when you match up an item with a coupon you can expect to purchase most products for less than $.50, and a lot of items can become free!
The drawback of using coupons at the Dollar Tree
I’ll admit that the Dollar Tree is not the most coupon friendly store to shop at. I cannot speak for all Dollar Trees, but the ones in our area do not scan the coupons. Therefore each coupon must be read and manually punched in. Because of the time involved, this can be inconvenient if you are in a hurry.
Because their still fairly new to accepting coupons, not every employee may be knowledgeable about the policy. That is why it is so important to bring the store’s coupon policy with you.
Do you shop at the Dollar Tree? Have you ever tried to coupon there?
Photo Provided By: daysofthundr46
free stuff!! I would be the worst hoarding stockpiler if I had access to such coupons!
It can be difficult to ignore the urge to hoard. However, the space required to have a hoarder style stockpile isn’t worth the savings.
That’s good to know! It’s a bit surprising, but good to know. We don’t shop there often, but will keep this in mind for when we do…especially when not in a hurry.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Finding Qualified Help for Eliminating Debt: 5 Steps
We normally just buy wrapping paper from dollar stores, and maybe greeting cards. My wife just started this recently and has found a few great items. The most useful ones were reusable lunch containers that we can put salad or snack in.
Well that sounds different. Good to know that you can do that and hopefully they will revamp their way of dealing with coupons, so they can scan them and save time. Thanks for passing this along Justin.
Debt Roundup recently posted..Adding Gold and Silver to My Portfolio
Yeah, the scanning thing is pretty obnoxious. They scan their items, but not the coupons. Maybe they’re working on adding the coding to their system.
The Dollar Store accepts coupons as well and has their own coupons. My wife found this out on her recent couponing adventure and shopped there for the first time to take advantage of one of their coupons.
Jose recently posted..An Easy Way To Save On Your Heating Bill
I was unaware that they have their own brand of coupons. I’ll have to have my wife look into this. Thanks Jose.
I would have never guessed!
I think one of the funniest comedy shows I’ve ever been too was when the comedian told us his Mom got him a gift card to the Dollar Tree. The ridiculous stuff he came up with was amazing.
My Money Design recently posted..My Best Online Discount Experience and a $500 Giveaway!
I’ll admit that I’m not a fan of any dollar store. They usually smell and I don’t like the products. However, the stuff my wife bought was all name brand and stuff we could really use. Definitely not a night light that would burn your house down or anything like that.
We were allowed to use coupons at Dollarama in Ontario in early 2011 or 12 i forget now but that was short lived. The shops turned us away just a couple months later saying, no more. I wonder if they really thought about what they were getting themselves into. Items were flying off the shelf free or near free for most depending on wording of coupons.
Canadian Budget Binder recently posted..Becoming a Single Homeowner – Part 1 “The Plan”
Unless coupons are different in Canada, I would think that would be a good thing for them. After all, they still get reimbursed. I don’t think it should matter if the money is coming from the consumer or the supplier. I suppose that the suppliers were upset because they were reimbursing for 100% of the product.
That’s good to know, but their groceries are fairly limited yeah? What kind of things are you typically buying?
Budget and the Beach recently posted..Frugal Habits of the Rich
We haven’t bought any groceries there. My wife has bought a few bars of soap, re-usable containers and other consumable products. For food we shop at a mid-west based super center that has great deals.
My wife and I coupon but were not aware of the new dollar tree coupon policy. Thanks for the heads up!
Brick By Brick Investing | Marvin recently posted..Selling Options – How To Sell Covered Calls
I wrote the article because I figured that a lot of people didn’t know about it. We don’t go often, only when something we need matches with the coupon. But it’s great to know there’s another way we can save money.