You know us Penny Hoarders.
Were always on the hunt for another coupon, a bigger bargain, a better deal.
(Personally, if I have food, shelter, clothing and caffeine, Im good.)
Thats why youll never catch us at the supermarket without coupons.
How many brands will send coupons if you just ask nicely?
I went to the websites of Dannon, Dial, Dole, Downy, Del Monte and Duncan Hines.
I asked Welchs, Windex, Whiskas and Wonder Bread.
I wrote to Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, and to 7-Up and 9 Lives.
I reached out to 100 brands.
I got back more than $120 worth of coupons.
Our team has compiled alist of creative waysyou can fatten your bank account this week.
This is a long list, so dont get overwhelmed.
Well keep it updated as offers changes or expire.
I just gave my name, and email and mailing addresses.Thats me Joe Blow, Average Citizen.
I followed the example of the diligent couponers over atCouponers United, who have made an art of this.
Couponers United maintainsa list of nearly 200 companiesthat its members have gotten coupons from this way.
I tried the same technique, but I didnt have quite the same success.
Of the 100 brands I reached out to, 26 mailed me coupons.
Another 16 directed me to webpages where I could print out their coupons.
(OR, we eat it all the time.)
Do you ever put out coupons that could help offset the cost of your fine product?
Contacting 100 brands took many, many hours.
When asking for my feedback, every brands website wanted to know my age and gender.
They all wanted my name, address and email address.
Over and over again, I had to pass online CAPTCHA tests to prove I wasnt a robot.
Seriously, brands, Im not a robot.
My suggestion: Limit yourself to contacting brands whose products youre absolutely, positively, definitely going to use.
Anything else is a waste of time.
Here are the results of my inquiries broken into categories.
Even better: Most of these manufacturers coupons wont expire for nearly a year.
Several of these companies said I could contact them again in six months to receive additional coupons.
Kraftis the undisputed king of this method.
Bayerhad me print coupons for $1 to $4 off Alka-Seltzer, Aleve or Miralax.
For your future convenience, we often promote our products through newspaper inserts.
You may be able to find valuable coupons from your local Sunday newspaper.
Same with Georgia-Pacific, which makes six popular brands of paper towels and toilet paper.
I havent seen any yet.
We hope you will understand
Its OK, Bigelow Tea.
At least youre super-polite about it.
Brands That Blew Me Off
Some brands simply didnt respond at all.
I wont name them here.
No hard feelings, Gortons Fish or Hawaiian Punch or Krusteaz.
You may have better luck with some of these companies.
The websiteCouponers United, which inspired this experiment, has had more success with this strategy.
This was my personal experience after one round of reaching out to these brands.
Like they say, your mileage may vary.
Me, Im going to the grocery store now.
Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
It sounds appealing right?
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