Peelie coupons (usually referred to as “peelies”) are coupons that you can find stuck on the outside of a product in the store. You can peel them off like a sticker and hand them to the cashier when you check out. Make sure to read before peeling off the coupon because occasionally peelies will state “only valid when removed by the cashier at the time of purchase.” If you do leave the peelies on, make sure to let the cashier know about it as they will often miss them when scanning your items.
A few examples of peelies are “save $1 off this box of kellogg’s cereal” or “buy any 2 bags of ruffles potato chips and get a FREE ruffles dip!” or “Buy one get one free!” Peelies can be found just about everywhere on just about anything. Shampoo, diapers, cold medicine, green beans, or salad dressing.
If you find peelies, it is acceptable to take one or two of them if you know that you will use them at a later date, but it is not coupon courteous to take all of the peelies off all of the products so that nobody else has a chance to take advantage of these coupons.
Take extra care to look for these coupons when you walk up and down the grocery store aisles. There are probably a lot more of them available than you ever thought and once you start to recognize that peelies are there, you will begin to spot them more frequently.
I have to disagree about the acceptability of taking peelies. Peelies are placed on items to be used by the person who actually purchases that item, NOT for others to take! Taking peelies from an item to use at another store or at another time, is pretty much like stealing.
I agree with Dee Dee. I’ve loved reading this blog and thought everything else has been great and perfectly ethical. However, peelies are put on the product and basically purchased with the product.
Occasionally, I’ll buy a product and use a better coupon that I already have (or that is expiring soon) instead of the peelie that is stuck to the product. Then I get to keep the peelie to use later. However, if I don’t buy something, I can’t ethically take the peelie from it.