I’ve spent more than a little time addressing coupon issues here and elsewhere.  I realized that I have a pretty good idea of where to look for what I need.  That’s a byproduct of experience.

But what about those who haven’t dedicated countless hours to finding the best places to find a coupon for $.25 off a bottle of Downy fabric softener?  What’s it like when someone who’s relatively new to the Internet and/or coupon searching fires up Google and types in “grocery coupons”?

I decidcd to find out.  I did a simple search for grocery coupons and this post outlines the first five sites I found and what they really have to offer.

ONE:  COUPONS.COM

On the day I checked this site out, they had a total of 89 printable coupons available.  They were similar to the coupons you’d find in your Sunday paper.  The interface for “clipping” the coupons you want is easy, but printing them requires the installation of special software.  There’s a statement assuring users that this download won’t do anything malicious, of course, but I’m not really a big fan of rolling the dice with that sort of thing.

TWO:  THE GROCERY GAME

We’ve covered The Grocery Game here before.  It’s not really a place to find coupons.  It’s more of a place to find out the best places and times to use the coupons that are otherwise available to you.  There’s a ridiculously cheap trial membership available for The Grocery Game and I think it has a lot of potential for some people.  However, it wouldn’t be of much use to the casual wannabe coupon clipper.

THREE:  THE COUPON MOM

This is another site we’ve talked about before and many would consider it a free competitor to The Grocery Game.  You do need to register (that’s free) to access a lot of the information and offers, but there are some free coupons readily available for those who don’t become a member.  Interestingly, those coupons looked just like the ones from coupon.com.  Same deals, same layout, same everything.

FOUR:  GROCERYCOUPONS.COM

They claim to have an awesome selection of coupons.  I can’t verify that.  Why?  You need to fork over $10 to become a site member.  Then, every time you “place an order” for coupons, they charge you a 10% clipping fee.  There’s an offset to all of that in the form of additional free coupons and they do claim to have an unconditional money back guarantee.  For all I know, this is the greatest thing since $2.00 off sliced bread, but unless you’re willing to toss a ten-spot at them, it’s not worth a thing.  It may be a gem of a site, but those who are just looking for some printable coupons to help them on their next run to the Piggly Wiggly won’t find much here.

FIVE:  SMARTSOURCE.COM

When I stopped by, they had 82 coupons, many of which were identical to the ones at coupons.com.  Using the site is simple.  Click on the coupons you want and then print them.  The catch?  You need to install their special printer program.  It’s a small javascript app and they claim it’s necessary to protect the coupon-supplying companies from fraud.  As noted, I’m not a big fan of installing mystery programs on my PC.  It could be worth it, though, if saving $.50 on some Johnsonville brats is enough motivation for you!

So, what’s it like to approach the search for good grocery coupon websites like a casual user?  Well, two of the first five options weren’t really what you’d consider a coupon site.  Two of the others basically seemed to offer identical coupons and required installation of additional software.  The other was a service with a subscription fee.

I love technology.  I really do.  In this case, however, I’d tell people they’ll be just as happy picking up a Sunday paper and a pair of scissors.  There’s nothing THAT special about those first five search results.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some legitimate savings opportunities there.  It’s just a matter of how serious you are about pursuing them, I suppose.