Last Thursday I went to go to the grocery store. Technically I went to the supermarket. I don’t think there are any just grocery stores left. Wherever I went I thought I’d take a look at the weekly sales circular to see if what I needed was on sale. As I was taking the look I indeed noticed a few items and even a mention to “check the app for extra savings with a digital coupon!”
I used to use coupons. I really did. I wasn’t like those guys on television who shopped with all their coupons in a three-ring binder and a small, personal computer to calculate what combination of coupon, product, and luck would allow them to shop for a family of 12 for a week on $1.78. I was like if I needed something, and I had a coupon for it [ding! ding! ding!], I saved a quarter, fifty cents if it was double coupon day.
Another thing about those coupons, they made sense. They made cents, but yes, they made sense too. When I went to look for the digital coupon for my extra savings I happened to notice 4 different coupons for dishwasher soap tablets. The same dishwasher soap tablets. Too confusing. Not like the old days. One coupon. One product. One saving. Except for pizzas.
I’m talking about paper coupons, so you know whatever just jogged my money wasn’t of something that happened last week. No, this is a little older. Nine years older. Almost ten. It was that long ago that I wrote a post about…are you ready?…pizza shop coupons! Really. And last week’s mini-excursion into the world of digital coupons reminded me of it. Let me remember some if it for you.
From: It’s a Pizza Revolution, err, Resolution, January 5, 2015. (When you see those prices, remember, this was 2015.)
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While cleaning out the old coupon keeper and unpinning overflow restaurant coupons from the coupon board, a myriad of pizza coupons bit the dust – expiration date speaking. Besides the fact that it is remarkably easy to make your own pizza, it is remarkably hard to figure out pizza coupons. Even the big national chains are getting into the “let’s make this so confusing that nobody will ever want to redeem our coupon or take advantage of our special” craze. And that’s just plain crazy.
Let’s start with those national chains. Two pizzas at $5.99 each. What a deal. Oh wait, only Monday through Thursday. Still a deal. And it comes with two toppings. On two pizzas. Now hang on. Just to whom are they marketing this great special of theirs? How often does a family of one want two pizzas? How often does a family of four want two pizzas? While we’re hanging out with that family, have you ever tried to get four people to agree on two pizza toppings? Sometimes you can’t get one person to agree on two toppings! So let’s cross the street to the other chain. Any large pizza for $7.99. But we’re back to two toppings. Unless you want bacon. Then it’s $12.99 for one topping. Don’t confuse that with the “Any Pizza for $11.00” deal. That all depends on do you want carry-out or order online. While we’re at it, do you drive to work or carry your lunch? Sheesh.
Since those guys are no help let’s visit a local shop. I have a coupon from one for a large pizza with one topping, a twelve inch hoagie, an order of breadsticks and a bottle of cola. Too much for your family of seventeen? Another shop has one large pizza with one topping for only $10. If it’s Thursday you can get two toppings on that large pizza for the same $10. And if you like that you can super-duper size it to five large pizzas with one topping for only $45. You can use the savings for your co-pay at the cardiologist.
An interesting thing about these specials is that all of the coupons specify no substitutions and to mention the coupon when ordering. Why? It’s not like these are secret savings to special card carrying members of the “I Like Your Pizza Parlor” club. These come every week in every newspaper, hard copy mailings, e-mail blasts, on the Internet, on their Facebook pages, and taped to the top of the box when you actually do order something. Substitutions? Who understands the offer to begin with!
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Thanks for walking down Memory Lane with me. That was fun. That’s why I still make my own pizza however I want it. Thursday through Wednesday only. (Bonus: Follow the link to the original post for my pizza dough recipe. No coupon required.)
The words you pick and how you say them can drive you toward the positive or leave you with negative memories. One is more fun. Your mindset matters. That’s what we say, and we said it in the most recent UpLift. Read it here. Read it now!
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Homemade dough! Yes!!! Better in so many ways and you can detour around the confusion. I’m with you — app craziness and memories of old school newspaper coupons. My mom and her lady friends would have ‘clip and sip’ parties — newspapers everywhere. Thanks for the morning giggles. When will the pizza be ready? I’m on my way. 😜
Clip and sip. I love that idea. Now we’ve reached the tap and nap era of coupon clipping! I don’t have pizza on the dinner schedule until Saturday. It you get here by then, there’s always plenty for drop-ins. 👨🏻🍳
Yay! “Tap and nap” I love it…and see ya Saturday! 😁
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The conundrum of coupons! So true! I have a friend who was fastidious about cutting out coupons from several papers and buying things I’d never ever use personally–and I questioned why she’d want to buy them. And, like you, I often had coupons that had long expired because I just kept forgetting about them. I’m not a very detailed person, but coupons did me in. I’m with you. Homemade pizza is the best anyway! There’s no guarantee that what you get from the pizza place won’t be burnt or have scanty ingredients. I love your rants, my friend. Monday morning giggles and guffaws. You keep me grinning!
I never could handle more than a couple coupons at a time. And I’m sure I never in my life used a coupon from a pizza shop. I’ve found a couple pizzerias that made a good pizza, but making it at home is so easy. I started my daughter on making her own pizzas before she could reach the counter. She’d sit up on a stool and mix all the ingredients. I had to knead for her but she handled the rest. And now she still makes her own!
Teaching your daughter self-sufficiency and not the reliance on pizza shop pizzas is a gift that keeps on giving. “Give a man a pizza, he has dinner; teach a man to make pizza, he feeds himself for a lifetime.” Well done, my friend.
That’s too cute!
pizza recipe
Easy Peasy
Take four cups of flour, a cup and a half of warm water, two teaspoons salt, one teaspoon sugar, two tablespoons oil, and a pack of active dry yeast. Mix the yeast in the water, add the sugar, let it go to town for 5 minutes or so. Add half of the flour and all of the salt to the water. Get your hands into it and slowly add the remaining flour then knead it for a couple of minutes. Put it in a bowl coated with oil to let it rise for about an hour. Shape it, put it on a lightly oiled pan, brush it with oil then top it with however many toppings you want. Bake it at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Use the savings for the copay at the cardiologist – that’s good, Michael!
FYI – my neighborhood still has a grocery store. The prices are a little higher but it’s family run and delightful.
Oh that must be so nice though and surely worth the extra pennies. Here if you head into the heart of town you will find one true grocery that’s been there probably since the city grew up around it. In my neighborhood there is a small local family owned chain, only 5 stores, that’s pretty close to just groceries but not like the ones I remember as a kid.
I remember the coupons, but never seemed to use one. They were lost on me. I haven’t eaten pizza from an actual restaurant in years now. During the pandemic we went all in making them ourselves using frozen dough from the grocery. Much healthier and tasty.
I’ve been making my own pizza for at least 40 years, probably longer. I’ll still grab a pizza at one of 2 local shops that do a great job, but generally, yeah, I’d rather do it at home and the frozen or fresh doughs you can get from groceries and pizza shops are a great shortcut to your own creation.