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Double Coupons in Canada – Is It Possible?

Doubling Coupons.

When you read US blogs and watch Extreme Couponing on television, you often learn about something called double coupons when couponers are doing their shopping.

But what exactly is coupon doubling?

Double coupons is when the value of your coupon is doubled, usually up to $2 or less.

Which Stores Allow Double Coupons?

In Canada, there is currently only one store that allows coupon doubling and that is Pharmasave. However, they do not allow you to double coupons all the time – only on special promotion days.

When a double coupon event is taking place, you will see it advertised on the front page of their flyer. When you shop during this promotion, all of the coupons you redeem (excluding FREE and B1G1 FREE type coupons) will be doubled in value, up to a certain amount.

That means, if you had a $1 coupon for toothpaste, it would be doubled up to $2. Great savings, right?

Can I Get Coupon Overage by Doubling Coupons?

No, you cannot. Let’s use the toothpaste example again – you have a $1 coupon that would be doubled up to $2, but the toothpaste is on sale for $1.50, which leaves you with $0.50 in overage.

Unfortunately, at Pharmasave, you can’t apply the coupon overage to the rest of your purchases. Instead, they will double the coupon value up to the selling price of the item ($1.50 for the toothpaste example).

So even though you can’t make money with double coupon events, you can still get free stuff!

I Don’t Have a Pharmasave Nearby. How Else Can I Save?

Coupon doubling is a fantastic way to increase your savings, but it is not the only way to slash your grocery budget. Here are a few other ideas for lowering your grocery bill:

1. Take advantage of mail-in rebates. There are always many Canadian rebates to get in on and most of the time, the rebate is for 100% of the product’s value. This is an easy way to try new products for free.

2. Become a member of Shoppers Optimum – it is the best rewards program in Canada. By reading through my guide, you will learn dozens of ways to earn points faster – which means you will earn free groceries faster!

3. Start planning your menus. Menu planning is one of the easiest ways to lower your grocery bill and it really doesn’t take that much effort at all.

4. Purchase items when they are priced at their lowest. Never pay full price for anything, if you don’t have to. Follow the yearly sales cycle and you can easily save hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars each year.

5. Become an extreme couponer. Extreme couponing, of course, is a great way to bring home free or very, very cheap groceries every single time you shop. It take a bit of time and dedication, but from my experience, it is definitely worth it.

6. Build a grocery stockpile so you can shop in your own home for “free”. Stock up on sale items and you will never have to worry about paying full price for groceries again!

7. Include price matching in your grocery shopping routine. It’s not likely you will find all of the best deals at one store, so shop somewhere that allows price matching so you can take advantage of all of the great sales in your area.

Although double coupons are a fun and exciting way to save an amazing amount of money on groceries, don’t rely on these special coupon doubling events alone to save money.

Instead, save as much money as possible by combining a few (or all) of the ideas above. Coupon doubling is just a bonus!

Have you ever doubled coupons at Pharmasave?

Comments

  1. Marianne

    In Quebec, the Maxi chain of stores (part of the Loblaws family) changed their policy this winter and will now allow customers to stack one of their coupon zone coupons and a manufacturer’s coupon on the same product.

    In the Ottawa area, our 3 local RCSS stores are also allowing this. The Eagleson road (Kanata) location is the most friendly to price matching, couponing and stacking the coupon zone and a manufacturers coupon out of the three in Ottawa … they have taken the lead in educating their staff since my friend and I approached them about a year ago on behalf of our coupon group here in the city.

    • Margaret

      wtg Marianne I to am in Ottawa and was not aware of coupon stacking in the RCSS. Now I have to try it…..lol

      • Courtney

        About a year ago or so these stores were to stop this.. at least RCSS did. They are all connected, so maybe you’re getting lucky out there!

  2. aLaNa

    SOBEY’S, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba: On the first Tuesday of every month (which also happens to be 10% off day as well) will let you double the first coupon per item, only up to $1=$2=BIG $AVING$!

    As well, I remember 15? years or more ago, Safeway used to 2x coupon. With their ridiculous prices nowadays, they should resort back to that to try to maintain their client base. For me to go there now, it has to be one of their weekend specials and a really good one at that. IMO: Their prices skyrocketed when they started airmiles.

  3. Marie

    I disagree with the point you made about shoppers optimum points being the best rewards program in Canada. I have a Presidents Choice MasterCard and by using that for most of my day to day purchases, I earn points that I can then apply to my grocery bill every month. My husband and I have a joint account and two cards. We’ve been able to earn approximately $30 every month to apply to groceries at pc grocery stores. By getting gas at the gas bar and using your MasterCard to pay you also get 7 cents off every litre which you apply to groceries also ( during their gas coupon events that number goes up to 35 cents off every litre!) I really believe by taking advantage of every opportunity that presidents choice has to save with their rewards program, it is the best in Canada!

    • Margaret

      I remember about 30 years ago it was either A&P or IGA that had double coupon days on Tuesday every week. That was when there wasn’t as many coupons as there is today….

    • Donna-Lynn

      I will shop at Shoppers with my optimum card and pc mastercard. It’s a win win. Shoppers will also send great coupons via email
      that I use all the time! : ) (Just remember to put the amount you spent with your pc card back on the card as soon as you get home)

  4. Jacquie

    Marie, the catch is that many of us prefer not to use credit. There are many cool reward programs from credit cards & Presidents Choice is terrific, but SDM is no obligation…I prefer that one, too!

    • Kris

      That’s exactly what I was going to say. Some people don’t like using credit or can’t get credit, whereas Optimum is for everyone.

  5. Lisa Anne

    I use price matching often. We do not buy many processed foods so sometimes couponing does not work for my shopping that week. I often use coupons and mail on rebates for products such as dish washer detergent and washing machine detergent. Also condiments that I have not or just cannot make. It would be very nice if we could have special events at our local store that allowed doubling of coupons. I would do it if the products I used were supported.

  6. David Bradley

    Walmart is the only Canadian retail/grocery store I know of, which does let the customer keep the overage.

    The other stores steal the overage for themselves.

    What’s better than selling a $3.99 item for $5.00.

    BIG GROCERY ARE CANADA’S PURVEYORS OF POVERTY.

    • patti

      walmart doesn’t need to steal from their customers because they still more than enough by paying their employees poverty wages and busting their efforts when they try to unionize and ask for more.

  7. ANN

    Our COOP in Aldergrove use to have DOUBLE COUPON DAYS….we would drive there especially to get the flyer then go to a store that matched flyers and do our “doubles” there……it would take literally HOURS to shop but it was possible with planning and patience to buy $400 worht of groceries for $30 cash…It was phased out quite a while ago….but we still talk about “the good old days, when….” It would be great to have it back again…..if only once a month

  8. Kristine

    Target allows for extra savings when couponing with their “TARGET EXCLUSIVE” coupons used in combination with a Manufacturer’s coupon! Just check out their website to print out coupons you need and sometimes you might already have a clip-out coupon for the same item and you can use both! PLUS if the timing works out when it’s on sale and can be price matched!

  9. Kelly Samson

    Wondering if anyone knows whether or not the Pharmasaves in the Maritime provinces still have double coupon days?

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