There was a panel about this at HOPE a few years ago. I've burned the MP3 to disc several times to give to people who think all hackers are just "bank robbers" who can type faster than police.

If you haven't heard it, and can't find it, let me know and I'll dig it up or re-rip it.

I found their explaination of how you can sometimes get more in coupons than you pay (item on sale, coupon doubled, etc.) and that some stores will give you cash back, but for the ones that don't, you just buy gift cards. And, of course, you can always sell the glucose meter on eBay.

CypherGhost wrote:
There was a panel about this at HOPE a few years ago. I've burned the MP3 to disc several times to give to people who think all hackers are just "bank robbers" who can type faster than police.

If you haven't heard it, and can't find it, let me know and I'll dig it up or re-rip it.

I found their explaination of how you can sometimes get more in coupons than you pay (item on sale, coupon doubled, etc.) and that some stores will give you cash back, but for the ones that don't, you just buy gift cards. And, of course, you can always sell the glucose meter on eBay.

I'd love to hear it!

There's also a lot to be said in learning to understand the UPCs on the coupons and how they match certain items or items in a line. In this way, coupons can at times be used on lower priced items than they are intended, or multiple coupons can be used on the same item. That gets into illegality though- just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should be done.

Companies are now using the online forums that deal with coupons and deals to help them discover glitches in their own methodologies, not unlike what you see in the computer security world. There are some very distinct parallels that could be drawn between the two.

CypherGhost wrote:
There was a panel about this at HOPE a few years ago. I've burned the MP3 to disc several times to give to people who think all hackers are just "bank robbers" who can type faster than police.

If you haven't heard it, and can't find it, let me know and I'll dig it up or re-rip it.

I found their explaination of how you can sometimes get more in coupons than you pay (item on sale, coupon doubled, etc.) and that some stores will give you cash back, but for the ones that don't, you just buy gift cards. And, of course, you can always sell the glucose meter on eBay.

Any insight into what the talk was called? I've looked high and low and cannot find a reference to it.

flynn23 wrote:

CypherGhost wrote:
There was a panel about this at HOPE a few years ago. I've burned the MP3 to disc several times to give to people who think all hackers are just "bank robbers" who can type faster than police.

If you haven't heard it, and can't find it, let me know and I'll dig it up or re-rip it.

I found their explaination of how you can sometimes get more in coupons than you pay (item on sale, coupon doubled, etc.) and that some stores will give you cash back, but for the ones that don't, you just buy gift cards. And, of course, you can always sell the glucose meter on eBay.

Any insight into what the talk was called? I've looked high and low and cannot find a reference to it.

It was called "Coupon Hacking." There's no easy to find link to it, however, as it was from the Previous HOPE, not the last one. http://www.hopenumbersix.net/mp3/16/coupon_hacking.mp3 should do the trick for you. If you still have problems, send me your snail address and I'll burn a CD for you.

skullaria wrote:
The last few years have sent me in a very different direction from the beginning of my adult life. When my son started 3rd grade, a series of events convinced us that I needed to quit work, and homeschool my son.

So now my feminist streak has mellowed a bit to the realization that true freedom for women, should include the right to be a housewife and mother, IF that is what a woman wants to do, and feels she must do.

So that is where I've found myself...mother, cook, housewife, and with that comes....boredom set in a bit, and so did the realization that living on one income could be challenging.

And somehow, I slowly ventured into a new sort of hacking...Retail hacking. It has a simple premise really...how do I get everything...for as little as possible.

It started when we decided we wanted to learn some survivalist tactics. One of the things that everyone recommended was...have a stockpile of food. Well, now I not only have a stockpile of food, but I'm keeping my father and sisters pretty well stocked too, and we're making huge donations to the Salvation Army on a fairly regular basis now.

Here's my the brunt of my method. I will say that I am very lucky to have several stores within 3 miles of my home. That helps! Well, I will try to make this as short and concise as I can, so I'm going to focus on my method, not on my sources. :)

First, you need the largest supply of coupons you can get. I probably get about 35 different free magazines a month just from searching the internet occasionally, looking for free magazines, I search those for free coupons. I also make it a point to get up early on Sundays so I can get the double newspaper for one price - that's twice the coupons. Before Saturday of each week, I search the net to get a list of coupons coming out. Usually on or right at major holidays the newspapers do NOT carry coupons. I also search stores for coupon pads, and I swap coupons and forms with friends. I look for coupons and rebates on line. Basically, I keep my eyes PEELED for coupons. Any coupon. That's important. Yes, sometimes I get things I don't USE - but I do it in order to gain more than I've spent. For instance, a coupon on a glucose monitor, 20.00 off. A store runs a sale, buy same glucose monitor for 20.00, get 20.00 back in register rewards. I just netted a glucose monitor (which I will give away) and 20.00 for whatever tax it cost me. That's why you save THEM ALL. You never know.

Next, I get every sales paper for close by stores each week. I carefully match my coupons WITH the sales. I don't rely on ANY pay site to tell me how to do this, it is quite easy to do yourself. I also consider things like store coupons, REBATES, Satisfaction Guaranteed forms, and rewards programs, such as CVS's extra value bucks, free incentives, like movies, and Walgreen's register rewards.

THEN, you combine these things. For instanc... [ Read More (0.5k in body) ]