The inserts: there are 3/4 different kinds of inserts to be found in your Sunday paper
SS: The SmartSource insert. Among other things, this is where you find the General Mills coupons as well as many of the other “bigger” brands.
RP: the RedPlum Insert. In many areas, the RP & the V are one and the same. If you are looking for coupons for Unilever products (Suave, Breyers, Lipton, Dove, etc), they can generally be found in the RP insert.
V: the Valassis insert. In many areas, the RP & the V are one and the same. If you are looking for coupons for Unilever products (Suave, Breyers, Lipton, Dove, etc), they can generally be found in the RP insert.
P&G: the Proctor & Gamble insert. This comes out once a month (typically the 1st Sunday of each month, but P&G follows their own schedule) and is the only place where you can get coupons for Tide, Pantene, Pampers and many other products.
IPs: shorthand for “Internet Printable”. IPs are the coupons that you can find online. Printing IPs require the installation of a “Coupon Printer” on your computer. Please don’t fear installing this program. The tracking cookie that it contains is in order to limit your printing of each coupon to 2 times per computer (which means if you have several computers in your house you can print 2 copies from each computer).
WYB: shorthand for “When You Buy”
OYNO: shorthand for “On Your Next Order”
Catalina: These generally cause the most excitement among couponers. When you see a sale worded something like “Save $10 on your next order when you buy $20 in participating products”, it means that you receive a coupon for $10 at checkout. The coupon is printed not from the register, but from that little white machine sitting next to the register. That machine is made by the Catalina company and the coupons themselves have come to be called a “Catalina”. There are very few grocery stores that don’t participate in the Catalina program. Some people also refer to a Catalina as a “Cat”
Rolling the Catalina: the ability to do this is why couponers get so excited about Catalinas. It simply means that you split your transactions in order to minimize your out-of-pocket costs. Let’s say that you are looking at a deal listed as “Save $10 OYNO WYB $20 and you have enough coupons to to that deal several times. There are two reasons that you want to split your transactions in to 3 $20 transactions. The first reason is that, in most cases, if you buy $60 in one transaction you will still only get a $10 Catalina (it depends on the deal, not the store). But if you split your transaction, you can minimize your out-of pocket costs by using the Catalina generated in one transaction to pay for the next.
OOP: shorthand for “out of pocket”. This is the cash that you physically pull out of your wallet. It is the cost of your purchase after all coupons, Catalinas, ECBs and RRs have been subtracted.
ECBs: stands for “Extra Care Bucks” and is specific to CVS. CVS’s Extra Care Buck program is a great way to get most of your toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and many cosmetics for free.
The CVS Coupon Machine: these are the free-standing price-checking machine and can now be found at most CVS stores. Scan your Extra Care card at the Coupon Machine and you will often get CVS coupons (which can be stacked with manufacturers coupons)!
RRs: Walgreens version of an ECB program and it stands for “Register Rewards”.
SCR and +UPR: these are part of the rewards program at Rite Aid.
BOGO, B1G1, B1G2F: different ways to say “Buy One Get One Free” or “Buy 1 Get 2 Free”
MIR: shorthand for “Mail In Rebate”
PSA: shorthand for “Prices Start At”
Blinkie: sometimes you will find a little machine hanging on the shelf in the supermarket aisles that dispenses coupons. These are called Blinkies because the machine usually has a little red blinking light on it
Peelies: these are coupons that you can often find stuck to the product itself.
Hangtag/Winetag: these are usually found on bottles (salad dressing, beverages, oils, etc)
Tearpad: can be found anywhere. they are simply pads of coupons found near the product display
Land of No Doubles: those horrible places in the country where grocery stores do not double coupons. The 3rd circle of Hell
