Gang Cutting of Coupons

I just read an article about "gang cutting", which is a term that I had not heard before today.  Gang cutting occurs when many coupons are stacked and cut out at once.  Many times, people will purchase several copies of the Sunday paper in order to get multiple copies of the coupon inserts.  Some coupons gurus recommend the purchase of a Sunday paper for each member of the family.  Let's say there are five members in your family, so you have five papers that results in five copies of each coupon insert.  To save time in cutting out the coupons, people will separate the pages of the inserts and stack the like pages so that when one cuts out a particular coupon, the person is actually cutting out all copies of that coupon.  That process is considered to be gang cutting.


I have put the link to the article below, but the end result, according to the article, is that gang cutting of coupons that you then use at the store may result in the store not being reimbursed by the manufacturer for the cost of the coupons.  To still be able to use coupons and still have the store be reimbursed, coupons simply have to be cut individually.  Since reading that article, I have gone to some of the websites of coupon gurus.  Needless to say, there is a lot of debate as to whether or not the gang cutting issue is real.  I definitely do not have the answer

For most people, it will not be too much of a problem to cut coupons individually.  It will just take a little longer to get the coupons ready.  Please keep one thing in mind.  The stores where we use coupons are in our neighborhoods.  The people who work there may be our friends, neighbors, or relatives, and they work to make a living just like you and I do.  Thus, if cutting coupons individually instead of gang cutting them means that we are being supportive of the local stores, then do it.  Be generous.

Gang Cutting Article