And this is what annoys me when I go the store for milk after someone like that cleans the shelf out. Now I have to go to another damn store on my way home because someone felt the need to empty out all the fuckin milk.
I relate the people on the coupon tv show to have the same issues as the ones on the hoarders tv show. Why do you need 17 boxes of cereal, 52 bottles of ketchup 26 cases of ramen noodles...
It's not that you NEED 17 boxes of cereal, 52 bottles of ketchup and 26 cases of ramen noodles.... but when you can get cereal for less than 50 cents a box (brand name cereal - not Bran-E-O's or Granola Twigs, Bark, Branches and Things, etc.), if you have space for it, I say go for it. As long as you keep the kids from opening more than one box at a time, the stuff stays fresh for a LONG time. The last time we bought cereal, we got three boxes of cinnamon toast crunch, 4 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and 2 boxes of Lucky Charms for less than a dollar. I'm not a big fan of Honey Nut Cheerios, but we make something called Reindeer Crack at Christmas time, which uses Chex Mix, Cheerios, pretzels and M&Ms drizzled in white chocolate and it's AWESOME. If you are hungry, even Honey Nut Cheerios sound good, even if you aren't a big fan. My wife has a saying, "If you don't coupon, you probably aren't poor enough."
Now, are there people that are rude about couponing? YES!!!!! We've been behind some rude couponers before. We typically will let the checkout gal know up front that we have coupons and will let people cut in front of us if we have multiple transactions. But sometimes, it's just inevitable that we are a little slower because we check each thing as the checkout gal rings them through to make sure the prices are what they should be. Typically, my wife goes shopping by herself so she can focus on the register transaction to make sure everything goes as planned. If we go together, I work with the kids to keep her focused on it. We have had a couple of times that we've heard some people behind us complaining about us couponing as we were unloading our stuff - "Let's just go to another lane - this couponer is going to be a WHILE". Because my wife is type A personality and is very organized with it, most of the time we are done with our transaction before people with less items and no coupons. A lot of times, it boils down to knowing your stores coupon policy and abiding by it to the letter. Don't try to "sneak by" with expired coupons, coupons that don't qualify, or a coupon for something that you didn't buy. The computer is good about catching most stuff - it only slows the process down. But if you know you are in the right and you know the policy better than the clerk, it goes a long way, even with a store manager.
What's really funny is some of the clerks/cashiers have issue with us "getting all that stuff for free". It's as though they think we are stealing from them. Thing is, if you look at it from a business stand-point, good store managers LOVE US (those that play by the rules and are polite about it). They get inventory turns which is how their stores are ranked. The store gets full credit for the coupon when they turn them in to the manufacturer, so except the double/triple coupon stuff, they are paid for it. Smart store managers will seek out couponers and find out what the couponers will be seeking out in their next circular. It's about combining the coupon with a store offer or promotion to get the stuff for free/cheap. If a store manager knows what the couponers will be seeking out, they can order more of that item and get a bunch of inventory turns on that item, making them look good. We've had it happen with a couple of CVS managers.
Oh, and if someone felt the need to empty out all the milk, I can just about guarantee you it was NOT a couponer... they rarely run good coupons on milk. Odds are good that if they are out of milk, the weather man said it's going to snow, so you are screwed if you need bread and eggs to make your French Toast. We buy our milk at Costco for a couple reasons - it seems to last a couple days past the expiration date unlike most of the milk that we've bought at Food Lion and it's consistently cheaper than anywhere else. We drink a LOT of milk in our house. Most times, we buy three gallons at a time and freeze at least one. By freezing it, you pretty much suspend the due date for the freeze period. The Costco jugs are square so they fit in the freezer well, too. Just make sure you pour out at least two cups before freezing it because it expands.
