Ever benefitted from a 'coupon fairy' who leaves coupons tucked by products in supermarkets? 1 February 2022 at 10:23AM in Old style MoneySaving 22 replies 3.2K views

MSE_Laura_F

I've been reading about one of our Forumites who's in the habit of tucking coupons next to the relevant product on supermarket shelves, ready for someone to find and use.

It's an ace idea and I wondered: does anybody else does this?

Or have you ever benefitted from it yourself? Ever spied a coupon left besides the corresponding product?

2childmum2

I leave coupons quite frequently - the coupons are often for branded stuff which I either won't use or which is still more expensive even with the coupon than the item i would usually buy.  I like to think someone else will benefit rather than the coupon just going in the bin

Frugalista

I leave coupons too!  Sometimes I have given away coupons for £X amount off a £X amount shop when I know I won't spend anywhere near that amount.  Sadly, some people are really suspicious - though most are grateful.

Pixiekazza

I used to leave B00ts offer vouchers on my office noticeboard and similar that I wouldn't use, after noticing people in another office doing the same. Then other people began to leave money off vouchers they didn't need. Seemed a nice thing to do, hopefully useful to someone! 

pjran

Waitrose sent me several £8 vouchers. When I went to the supermarket and did my shop I used the self checkout. I had quite a few of the vouchers left so gave one to the family next to me.

dancingmaster1651

What about parking tickets, the ones you've paid for and have a solid amount of time left on? I like to pass them over to another driver as I leave the car park, and have benefited from other drivers doing the same (particularly if I only need a few minutes and don't want to risk the wrong sort of ticket). Or tucking the ticket into a crack on the ticket machine. Doesn't work if you've had to key in your car reg plate, of course. It might be said that this is diddling the council or whoever maintains the car park, but I think not. That time has been paid for, no matter who uses it. 
I like the idea of pinning spare vouchers on staff notice board. 

Brie

Was in Tesco recently and a chap was going around meat aisles telling people what was in the discounted section which was nice of him. Didn't find anything I wanted but I'm sure others did.

And a few years back I was queuing on my lunch hour to buy a mag in WHSmith when a homeless guy asked if I would give him the price of the news paper he wanted to buy. I must have looked confused so he explained there was a coupon in it for a free sandwich from Gregg's. I'd planned on going there to get my lunch so we grabbed a few papers which I paid for and headed over to get some sandwiches. I paid about the same for the papers that I would have paid for a sandwich and he got all the spare papers to share with his friends. Must admit without him I wouldn't have known about the coupon and would have been cranky paying full price if I saw others getting their freebie!!

skull

I work in a supermarket and often a customer, with a store club type card, who I have given a money off voucher to, will say they won't be back in before the expiry date. They then either offer it to the next person in the queue, pass it back to me so I can pass it on to someone, or scrumple it up and throw it in their bag (grr).

Often the person a voucher is passed to, has a voucher come out with their receipt too, and this then sparks a lovely 'pass-it-on' run for several customers. If I am given the voucher by a customer to pass on, I try to give it to someone who I suspect might need it, elderly, young family, someone who looks like they're having  a bad day. I haven't  mentioned the store name as I think the practice might be frowned upon, but I have to say it brightens my day if I can help people this way.

I used to pass on car parking tickets with time left on them too, but the council got wise to people doing this, and now you have to enter your car reg number in the machine, and it is printed on the ticket so you can't pass it on.

Maat

I don't go to supermarkets any more (I stopped long before covid) as I find them far too stressful. I have found a way of helping through vouchers, though. I started maybe 18 or 24 months ago participating in university studies on autism. You don't always get a reward for it but when you do it's usually in the form of a voucher. Normally an Amazon one and I don't shop there because, you know! So I began sending the codes to the Manchester Winter Shelter for them to buy what they needed. My benefits cover my needs (for now) so whatever voucher I get I pass the code on either to the shelter or to my cousin who often struggles financially. I had a couple of good ones just before Christmas which I was able to give to her so she could feel good about spending them on other people or getting nice treats for herself.

I'm loving the supermarket coupon fairy stories. My autism makes this kind of activity impossible for me but it's wonderful to hear of other people being helped or cheered on a bad day, perhaps. You're lovely people.

Herts_Julie

I regularly take vouchers back to the supermarket and tuck the edge into the shelf edge label holder, next to the product.  I receive a stream of vouchers at the till, often something branded that I don’t buy.  I hope that someone else is able to use them - and it still means the supermarket gains a sale.  I have also returned to shops (the next time I need to shop) with those cards kids collect and swap to create full collections.

If I shop in a store for which I don’t have a loyalty card, I always ask the customers behind me whether they would like to collect the points from my shop by swiping their own loyalty card.

I don’t use coffee shops but I like the idea of paying for the order of the customer behind me - pay it forward.  Anything to share a smile and raise some community spirit. 

tboo

I have left till spits at the self-service before, not sure if they have been used or thrown away by the worker though and I have also picked up a few left.

As for the 'pass it on' leftover car park tickets, one time I did stick a leftover ticket to the pay machine, but technically they are 'not transferable'.so I won't do that now and as stated above a lot of machines now require you to input your reg.

There is a board about random acts of kindness if people want to view that.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/random-acts-of-kindness-and-all-things-positive!