How We Get The “As Low As” Price

My friend Shannon who helps do most of the store coupon matchups here in PPP wanted to share this with you guys, and it’s a great explanation of how we find prices for our match ups! The store match ups that we share here are probably one of the most time consuming parts of the website, so we want them to be as clear and useful for you as possible. Here are a few tips to get you started. . .

Some people have asked me how we get the as low as price when we post weekly ads for grocery and drug stores here on PPP. It really just takes a good calculator! 😉 I really was good in math growing up, but I think I lost my skills with each kid I had!

When doing coupon matchuos for a store ad, say Publix as an example, the BOGO item is half off the regular price. So while doing the ad we take off half the price automatically. Then we look for all the coupons (with products with tons of coupons you gotta love the item, but sure do dread putting together those matchups!) We take the best possible coupon and subtract that from the sale price. It gets a little more complicated when store coupons are added into the mix!

Here’s a perfect example that is coming out in the CVS ad this Sunday:

Get $2 ECB wyb (2) Hershey’s Holiday assorted 7.8-8.5 oz – $2.50

$1/2 Hershey’s Kisses Bag printable
$1/2 Hershey’s Miniatures Bag printable
B2G1 Hershey Kisses, Reese’s, York, Kit Kat, Rolo or Bliss Chocolates, exp. 12/25/11 (SS 12/11/11) regional coupon
$1/3 Hershey’s Kisses, exp. 12/31/11 (SS 11/13/11)
$1/2 Hershey’s, Reese’s or Heath Baking Chips, exp. 12/31/11 (SS 11/13/11)
$1/2 Hershey’s Bliss Chocolates, exp. 12/25/11 (CVS, Celebrate the Season Mailer)
$1/2 Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s, Hersheys’s Miniatures, York, Kit Kat, Rolo or Hershey’s Bliss Bags, exp. 12/11/11 (SS 11/20/11)
$1/2 Hershey’s or Reese’s Candy, exp. 12/25/11 (CVS, Celebrate the Season Mailer)
$1/2 Hershey’s, Kisses, Reese’s or York Holiday Candy Bags, exp. 3/31/12 (CVS, Reinventing Beauty, Winter)
As low as $.33

Buy 3 Hershey Bags
Use:
1 B2G1 Free Manufacturer Coupon
1 $1/2 Manufacturer Coupon
1 $1/2 CVS Home Mailer Coupon
Pay $3.00 Out of Pocket get 2 ECB , like getting 3 bags of candy for $1.00!!

So we start out with the total price of $7.50. The best possible scenario would use the B2G1 coupon first (for those lucky enough to have gotten that coupon in the Sunday paper!), which deducts $2.50 now making the price just $5.00. Then we use the $1/2 manufacturer coupon, bringing our total down to $4.00. Next, deduct the $1/2 CVS store coupon which would drop your total to just $3.00, plus save an additional $2 in ECBs making your total a whopping $1!

We do recognize that some may not have the CVS home mailer, but for you lucky ducks out there who did get it we wouldn’t want you to miss that deal. 🙂 Also, we try to put regional coupon next to coupons we didn’t find in our local Sunday coupon inserts. (We do our best to remember what we can, but still do miss a few and sometimes don’t catch it!) If you don’t have the home mailer you just add $1 to the total price. If you don’t have the B2G1 Coupon you’ll want to buy 2 bags. I hope that makes sense and helps a little better when you see the As low as price!

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions. . . we really do want these lists to be as useful for you as possible, and hope they help you pinch an extra penny or two at the grocery store!