Retail Stores With Some Of The Best Coupon Policies
According to a 2023 Credit Karma survey about Americans and their financial situation, 31% of survey respondents said they regretted not saving money during the year. Also per the survey, 15% reported having trouble covering basics like groceries, among other financial setbacks for the year. What this points to is a need for everyone to figure out how to keep more of their money in their wallets. That's where coupons come in.
With how much Americans spend on holidays like Christmas or how much gets spent on Black Friday in the U.S. annually, coupons offer one of a few ways to stay out of holiday shopping debt. However, employing coupons can help you stay on budget all yearlong if you use them wisely. If knowledge is power, one of the best ways to save money while shopping is to research which retail stores offer customers the best coupons. To save you time, we've already done most of the heavy lifting for you below.
Walmart
Walmart doesn't have coupons of its own; however, it accepts manufacturer's coupons, including those sourced online. A few caveats are that the coupons have to be used in store and be paper (so you'll need to print out the digital ones), and the store won't take coupons for entirely free products without purchase. This said, if the product is less than the value of the coupon, the overage will be applied to your total purchase. Sometimes, you might even get it back in cash.
Along with trying the Walmart hidden clearance hack (via the Walmart app), you might also score some freebies (or next to nothing) by visiting certain sections of Walmart like where the store keeps its travel-size items. Manufacturer's coupons here can oftentimes cover the entire cost (i.e., $1). As with any store, too, look for opportunities to double up savings: Walmart's everyday savings and manufacturer's coupons (though also read the fine print).
Target
While we can suggest some clever ways to save money at Target, one of the simplest ways is to use coupons. At Target, you can stack store coupons with manufacturer's coupons. Further, Target Circle offers, which are applied automatically at checkout for Circle members, can save you an average of 25%. Note that you're limited to four coupons per day per household. Also, if the coupons are higher value than the product, the coupon value will be adjusted. Like Walmart, they can also be applied to products that are on sale or clearance.
Another smart way to take advantage of your coupons is to pay with a Target Circle credit card, which provides an extra 5% in savings to your shopping experience, with an initial $50 credit added to your first purchases once approved. This is one of several credit card perks you should be taking advantage of and is an extra layer of security while shopping online. That's right, unlike Walmart, Target allows you to shop online and use both Target and manufacturer coupons together. Forget to use your coupon online? You can bring them with you to pick-up and apply them to your order.
JCPenney
At JCPenney, shoppers can combine their coupons (a maximum of 10 per shop), as well as take advantage of rewards from JCPenney Mastercard Rewards or the store's standard rewards program. The Mastercard could add an extra $10 in savings to purchases on every 200 points earned. Note, you'll need to read the terms of conditions of the coupons to know which combination of coupons you can use (i.e., buy one-get-one free, percentage and dollar off, gift with purchase, etc.) to get the maximum savings. JCPenney is another retailer that lets you shop from home and use your coupons online, although you'll have to check your coupons to ensure they're usable for online purchases since not all of them are valid out of store.
JCPenney also offers a price-matching policy that guarantees, in most instances, to match/beat a competitor's price. You can also leverage competitor coupons for JCPenney discounts, so long as you can provide a printout or a URL of the competitor's ad for in-store or online ads respectively.
CVS Pharmacy
At CVS, customers can mix and match manufacturer and in-store coupons to bring the cost of daily purchases to nearly zero in some instances. As a bonus, members of CVS' ExtraCare program (note, the basic tier is free to join) earn 2% back in ExtraBucks rewards on qualifying purchases. Basically CVS' own in-store currency, ExtraBucks can be used toward your next/future purchase. You can only redeem up to three CVS coupons and a single manufacturer coupon per household per shop, but you can use them in combination with ExtraBucks. Like the aforementioned retailers, you can also take advantage of clearance sales since the coupons are also eligible for clearance items.
While you'll receive 2% in ExtraBucks savings with a free membership, the ExtraCare Plus tier is $5/month. For this fee, members get 20% off CVS Health brand products and a $10 monthly bonus reward alongside any additional discount(s) provided by manufacturer and/or CVS coupons.
Walgreens
When thinking about one of the best ways to get discounts on prescriptions or even where to get a senior discount, the addition of coupons places Walgreens near the top. Unlike the previous retailers, Walgreens doesn't allow you to use coupons above the value of a product, however, Walgreens does let customers apply coupons to already discounted clearance items, stack manufacturer coupons with in-store coupons, and use them in combination with Walgreens' standard Register Rewards (i.e., the manufacturer's coupons printed out at checkout).
You can also use up to four of the same coupon per day. Note, however, you can only use a single manufacturer coupon with one Walgreens coupon per item. If you want a pro tip, join myWalgreens to unlock more discounts for free. You can earn anywhere from 1% to up to 5% cash rewards for every dollar you spend so long as you're at least 16 years old and live in the U.S.