HUGE coupon mistake I made!

I have a big thing about saying when I am wrong. And I am very stubborn and don't like to be wrong, so I rarely admit it.

Anyhow, I screwed up royally this week.

I read on another blog that you could use the Post Select cereal coupons on the Honey Bunches of oats and that a service rep from Post had confirmed that. I was off running telling people, thinking it would help people used their coupons and help stores move more inventory.

Boy, I was very wrong.

Here is the thing, sure, someone at Post said it was okay so I guess you can do it, BUT, is that really following the letter of the coupon? Short answer is no. Which means as someone who tries to always be extremely honest I was very much wrong and shame on me.

The owners of Pinching Your Pennies set me straight and I'm grateful they did.

Here's the deal: Idaho is suddenly going through this huge coupon explosion. Good because lots of people are saving money. But, not so good because a lot of dishonesty is going on. Not all intentional, but still.

It's like crime rates. My husband always uses this analogy. Crime rates are basically the same everywhere PER CAPITA. Less people, less crime, more people, more crime. Little Rigby has less burglaries, shootings than, say Boise. Of course, we only have 6-8000 people total! As we grow, we will have more crime, not because we are more evil, but because with more people in an area you are bound to have more criminals. Pure and simple.

More Idahoans are couponing, some too aggressively, to the point of dishonesty. Sometimes that is an accident, sometimes not. Either way, we all need to work harder to be honest when we do this and to those we screw up around, please, be more forgiving. Everyone here is learning together and there will be mistakes along the way.

Personally, I feel lucky for websites like Pinching Your Pennies that is free. The owners have gone through these growing pains in Utah and can help us through. We just need to ride out the storms and learn from our mistakes.

The Good Lord knows I'm trying to.

Moral of this specific example/story I started with: Coupon Fraud is coupon fraud. Just stay out of the gray area and follow the letter of that coupon law. Better to be honest and save less than to be dishonest. Really. And I'm sorry for not seeing that for what it was in the first place. Should have thought it through more.