We get so many emails here at Grocery Alerts regarding what certain abbreviations. So, I wanted to help out our Canadian friends and provide this handy glossary of popular canadian couponing terms.

Did we miss any?

$1.00/1:

One dollar off one product, two dollars off one product, etc.

$1.00/2:

One dollar off two products. You must buy 2 items to receive any savings; you cannot redeem the coupon on one product for half the value.

BOGO:

Buy one, get one free.

B1G1, B2G1:

Another way to write “buy one, get one”. The “B” stands for “buy”, the “G” stands for “get”. The numbers indicate how many of a product you must buy to qualify and the number of products you get when you redeem the coupon or offer.

Coupon Insert:

Coupon circulars inserted into Sunday newspapers amongst the other advertisements. Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP) and Proctor and Gamble (PG) deliver these inserts.

EXP:

Expires or Expiration Date

MIR:

Mail in Rebate, refers to rebates which must be submitted by mail. These are the traditional rebates that require you to mail in both your receipt and proof of purchase in the form of UPC barcode.

MFR:

Manufacturer.

Manufacturer Coupon:

A coupon created by the manufacturer, or by a marketing company on the manufacturer’s behalf. Manufacturer offers a discount to shoppers in order to entice them to buy their product. When a coupon is redeemed the manufacturer reimburses the store for the entire value of the coupon, plus a handling fee, usually $0.08.

OOP:

Out-of-Pocket; refers to the amount of money you will pay a store to make your purchase.

Peelie:

Adhesive manufacturer coupons found on products in the store. Peelies are often good on a wider selection of products than the one it is stuck to. Be sure to read the fine print on the peelie to discover if the coupon may be used on a smaller size or different variety of the same product, to allow you to maximize savings.

P&G:

Proctor and Gamble makes a wide range of consumer goods and are one of the largest corporations in the world. Proctor and Gamble puts out monthly coupon inserts filled with coupons for a variety of Proctor and Gamble produced brands, just a few of which include: Always, Bounty, Crest, Dawn, Gillette, Olay, Pampers and Tide.

Raincheck:

Rain Check is a written slip that you can request from a store when a sale item is out of stock. When the store restocks the item, after the sale period is over, a raincheck entitles you to purchase for the previous sale price. The store may include an expiration date as well as a quantity limit on your rain check. Rain checks are usually issued at the customer service desk. Some retailers like Walmart will not give rainchecks for “Limited Quantity” items.

SS:

Smart Source. A marketing company, Smart Source coupon inserts and website feature coupons from a variety of manufacturers. Smart Source is part of News America Marketing Co. Smart Source coupon inserts can be found in most Sunday papers. These are also found on the aisles.

Stacking:

Stacking may refer to using any two promotions together. When a coupon coincides with a promotion, we say “stack the coupon with the sale or promotion”.

Stacking Coupons:

Stacking coupons refers to using both a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on one product. Only London Drugs in Canada allows you to “stack”. Multiple manufacturer coupons may be used per item as long as the coupon has different bar codes.

Store Coupon:

A coupon created by the store to entice you to buy a certain product at their store. Stores receive no reimbursement from store coupons. Store coupons may be found in the weekly ad, printed online or downloaded as e-coupons.

Store Loyalty Card:

A free card which you present at checkout to receive additional savings. Fill out a short application to receive a loyalty card at your local grocer. If you don’t want to carry the card, the cashier can look up your preferred card by entering your ten digit phone number.

Transaction:

Transaction refers to your entire purchase, especially the payment you make for that purchase. If I buy 30 items and then pay the cashier, I just made one transaction.

Tear Pad:

A pad of manufacturer coupons found near product on shopping aisles. Tear pad manufacturer coupons may be used at any store, not just the one where you found the coupon.

UPC:

Universal Product Code. Bar code printed on product packages that can be scanned electronically.

YMMV:

Your Mileage May Vary. A phrase used to describe that an experience one shopper has may differ from your experience. One store may allow you to stack additional promos and another location may not do the same. Some stores will often let one customer do one thing and another do something completely different. If we receive an email from a reader with a great shopping scenario, we might report it and say, YMMV until we see if stores nationwide are allowing the same scenario.