FAQs: Coupon Inserts ~ What Are Regional Differences?

We know sometimes couponing can be confusing, and we are here to help!

Here at True Couponing, we receive questions daily about all kinds of things pertaining to couponing. To help answer your questions, we will regularly post Questions and Answers to some of the Frequently Asked Questions we receive from our readers.

Today we will discuss Regional Differences within the newspaper coupon inserts…

Question:

“Why are the coupons in my newspaper coupon inserts different than you have listed on your website?”

“What are Regional Differences?”

Answer:

Regional differences are the coupons that vary from paper to paper across the country.
This happens for two reasons:

1. Manufacturers release different coupons in different areas of the country (which is why some of our newspapers don’t even get the coupon listed…because sometimes we don’t get a certain coupon at all!).
2. Manufacturers will sometimes release a different dollar amount for different regions.

Every Thursday we post the Coupon Insert Preview. Those are the coupons (on a national level) that are expected to be in the upcoming Sunday paper. Well…then the Sunday newspaper comes and we find that some coupons are NOT THERE…or are in DIFFERENT AMOUNTS!! So we put together a list of the coupons that ARE in your paper!!

We call this list the Regional Differences Post.  It is a weekly comparison of what we EXPECTED to be in the paper with what is ACTUALLY inside the coupon inserts.

How To Use the Regional Differences Lists:

You can print the Regional Difference List for your specific paper and put it inside the front flap of your hanging file folder for that week. Put it right in there with the coupon inserts so that you can see at a quick glance which coupons are inside the insert BEFORE you start pulling coupons. NO MORE FRUSTRATION over NOT finding the coupon inside!!

When you clip a coupon and have used all of them in your inserts, cross it off your list.  If that item goes on sale again, you can see at a quick glance that you have already used that coupon.

You can find the Regional Differences in the menu at the top of the website under Coupons>Regional Differences. Then select your newspaper from the list.
Or…just click on your Newspaper below to check out the Regional Differences:

The Orlando Sentinel HERE

  The Tampa Bay Times HERE

The Tampa Tribune HERE

We hope this saves you some TIME!!

**A little more info…**

• There are NOT differences within the same Newspaper…so EVERY Tampa Bay Times Newspaper receives the same coupons. These DO NOT vary by zip code or region. So the coupons that the Brandon Tampa Tribune receives are the SAME ONES that the Manatee area receives! (Same with the Orlando Sentinel…no matter where the Sentinel is delivered, all the coupons are the same within the Sentinel.)
• If more than one newspaper is in the same market, they MAY NOT have the same coupons inside. The coupons inside the Tampa Bay Times and the Tampa Tribune are NOT the same even though they both deliver to some of the same areas.

By The Way…if you would like to volunteer to help out with the Regional Differences for the newspaper in your area, please email [email protected] with “Regional Differences” in the subject line. It only takes about 1 hour per insert per week.

Do you have more questions?