Walmart Bans Woman for Life...for Couponing?

Original article

It would seem that a woman has been banned for life from Wal-mart. Wal-mart got tired of extreme couponing, and they changed their policy on couponing. Seems that she questioned them about it; one thing led to another, and she got banned for life.

Here's another version of the story by The Young Turks on Youtube:


Personally, I fully support Walmart in this. My personal view is that extreme couponing is taking advantage of business' willingness to take coupons. As more and more people get into this, they hurt the rest of us by forcing businesses to become more strict in the coupons they accept.

I believe in using coupons, but taking it to the point where you get thousands of dollars worth of items for twenty or thirty bucks is wrong. One should pay for the stuff he/she gets, and paying a few pennies on the dollar doesn't cut it.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


Not a real issue..

But since they made it a policy, good for them.. I guess? Seems like a smart business move to limit coupon use to begin with.

Smart business move, however I cannot agree with this.

If someone wants too spend their life looking & searching for coupons, they should be able to take advantage of said coupons.

This world is getting worse by the day.

I'm on the fence with this, on one end yea she shouldn't take severe advantage of the coupons BUT at the same time Walmart shouldn't put out offers they aren't willing to keep. It a tough economy and people are hurting so yea people should used coupons but these extreme couponing people are ridiculous. So I'm on the fence, I don't think she needed to be banned or else I'd back up the retailer.

I work in retail management for a cvs. We are allowed ONE maufacturer coupn per item, not duplicate items. as for store coupons, take as many as the customer wants to hand you, which never goes beyond 5, though they say 1 per customer. Their is no store, company policy anywhere, that says the customer is limited, regarding manufacturer coupons per different item. if she was buying lets say, 5 gillette shave gels, and has 5 manufacturer coupns for gillette, then yeah, thats a no no...even if each shave gel was a different kind/scent. not allowed.
i dont know if hse bought all different things, and walmart management let it slip, or whats goin on. she shouldnt be banned though...they could have easily just 'known' her as she came in, and at register tell her we cant allow it, sorry..call corporate or something. banning her for stealing would have been legite* manufacturer coupns do say limit one per purchase...but again, if she bought 50 items, all different, and had 50 coupons, all different, it should have been allowed. if all the same items and coupons thats a no no.

I would like to know what they consider as extreme couponing.
My daughter has 2 small children and can't work due to one
child disabled. She uses 6 - 8 coupons each time she goes
to the store and I feel good that she looks for these bargains
to feed and take care of her family.

I really think that the store such as Wal Mart gets reimbursed
by the manfacturer of the product unless it is a store coupon
from Wal Mart. If that's a problem for Wal Mart they should
put out less coupons.

This woman (I think it is the same woman) had a show on TLC and it was canned because she is a scam artist...she used the coupons fraudulently and was teaching others how to do so too.

I see nothing wrong with what Walmart did...

ETA...I was wrong on who the woman is....,

Originally posted by crazydaisy
I would like to know what they consider as extreme couponing.
My daughter has 2 small children and can't work due to one
child disabled. She uses 6 - 8 coupons each time she goes
to the store and I feel good that she looks for these bargains
to feed and take care of her family.

I really think that the store such as Wal Mart gets reimbursed
by the manfacturer of the product unless it is a store coupon
from Wal Mart. If that's a problem for Wal Mart they should
put out less coupons.

Extreme is using dozens and dozens and dozens of scrapbooking albums or baseball card albums and collecting thousands and thousands of coupons....and stocking up on so much crap using all these coupons that it fills entire rooms in your home...

it is a sickness for some people....I know a woman who does it for fun...as a challenge and to show off how much she can get using zillions of coupons.

Much of her stuff ends up expiring.....she has crap piled high all over her house...

Using some coupons on your shopiing trip to save money on things you need - that is one thing.
But these woman go a little overboard...IMO....

reply to post by greeneyedleo

Then she isn't your usual coupon saving person
but a con artist and is committing fraud - in that case
I agree they should ban her.

SHe is a known scam artist? thats differnt, then yeah , walmart has every legal and nonlegal right to ban her..that changes everything.
businessess get credit or full restoration for coupons. hearing hse is a scam artist, changes thing ALOT then.

Originally posted by ziggy1706
SHe is a known scam artist? thats differnt, then yeah , walmart has every legal and nonlegal right to ban her..that changes everything.
businessess get credit or full restoration for coupons. hearing hse is a scam artist, changes thing ALOT then.

I think it is the same woman....lol
Looking into it now...
Maybe it is someone who learned from the TLC woman...lol

ETA...Im sorry, I am wrong. Wrong person. Maybe she learned from her?

THIS is who I was thinking of...

reply to post by greeneyedleo

Collecting thousands of them would take more time than working a job -
I would think. Thanks for the definition of extreme.

If she can do it, all the power to her.

She did nothing wrong by following the rules on the coupons.

Since there is nothing saying that she can't and the system of coupons is set up to allow for it, how is it legal to ban her for life?

Is this what people want? More control over your life?

She broke no law and people are siding with the Corporation making it up on the spot.

You might as well lay down now.

If it's all manufacturer coupons I don't see a problem, the company is reimbursed.
Most store specific coupons I see always say " cannot be combined with any other offer"
Walmarts fault for not including it, there's always going to be people who take advantage of anything they can for their own good.

I don't understand extreme couponing. I thought most coupons had limits about not being able to combine coupons. Maybe I'm wrong on that part. If the coupons are good, Walmart should accept them as well as any other business especially if they are compensated by the distributors or businesses that issue the coupons.

I don't know why someone would be banned from the store. Most people who use coupons are encouraged to go to the store and buy a specific item in order to save money. If Walmart is saying that they won't take anyone's coupons anymore, then everyone can go shop at other stores and boycott Walmart. Some people already do that. I shop at Walmart to save money and some time in not having to shop at multiple stores. I once sent an email to Walmart informing them of some store issues they have and was surprised to get a phone call from the local manager explaining how they were addressing those issues. They still have an issue with their grocery carts being a lot more difficult to roll around or not in a straight path than they should be. Other non Walmart stores don't have the same issues.

One thing I mentioned is that other grocery stores (whom Walmart is competing against) have buy one get one free offers. The manager said they don't match free and said that was a gimmick. I say it is a store incentive that other stores have been doing for several years that is actually a 50 percent off price reduction on those items. Since I am aware of their policy and that they won't match it, I go to other stores to buy those items and usually end up buying something else while I'm there. Walmart does not have the least expensive price on everything. Their check out lanes are not always the fastest either but better than they were at one time. In non Walmart stores, I often see someone open a new lane if other lanes are getting busy. At Walmart, you usually have to wait in line. I don't want to wait longer than necessary so if extreme couponing is making the checkout take a long time for a given amount of groceries, they may want to clip some of that out by opening up a separate line to avoid having customers wait too long to check out.

I'll add that Walmart did address the issues I mentioned. However the comment about grocery carts not rolling as easy as other stores carts still applies. Walmart went to a bigger cart years ago and that was when the problem first started. It may be a caster issue or carts being left in the rain issue. Taking someone's coupons should be a non issue in my opinion. I guess it's possible the local manager got upset or extreme couponing is hurting Walmart a lot more than many thought. I did read they were losing business to Aldi and other discounters. Just the news about this case will likely hurt Walmart's business. People will wonder if they will take their coupons. If they stop taking coupons, they won't complain and just go to other stores in most cases. I believe I read only 1 out of 100 or less people actually make a fuss and complain rather than just go elsewhere to do business.

If Wal-Mart advertises that they will match any competitor coupon, they should honor that policy or discontinue it. Kudos to people that find ways to beat the system. Except in this case, they simply admitted that they are lying scumbags and will not honor their promise. Don't talk the talk to get shoppers and then refuse to walk the walk when someone takes you up on your offer. I think Wal Mart's bottom line will be OK. That lady is probably struggling, like millions of others in this country.

Originally posted by crazydaisy
I really think that the store such as Wal Mart gets reimbursed
by the manfacturer of the product unless it is a store coupon
from Wal Mart.

Of course the manufacturer reimburses for their coupons. It would hardly be fair otherwise.
I've never really known Walmart to be a heavy store coupon promoter. Rather than relying primarily on weekly adverts with sales and coupons, they push "everyday low prices." They don't do it like everyone else. They rather focus on keeping prices on everything as low as possible every day. They did it by revolutionizing shipping and logistics procedures -- using their own trucks and distribution centers and making direct deals with manufacturers.

reply to post by jude11


Its legal because Walmart is a private business and can decide who they will and will not do business with. They dont need any reason at all to tell a person to leave and not come back. On a side note I am curious where you and some other posters get the notion that its illegal for a business to say no to someone.

On a different note who the hell needs 200 bottles of mustard or 75 packages of cream cheese?

If they were stupid enough to think that people would not think of this then its there own fault. And are you kidding talking about taking advantage. Do you know how walmart takes advantage of countries. Soo BOO HOO someone decided to save money by using the system that was in place.Or maybe walkmart just hate women in general?

Fine by me.

Combat couponers are a pain in the butt.

They hold up lines, argue their cases endlessly and rudely including threats to turn employees over to corporate office, and prey upon unknowing cashiers.

I've read through forums that detail how to make out like a bandit and a lot of them are based on some serious grey area and some are actually just convoluted stealing.

I use coupons, but only if I find ones for products I already buy...