Costco: How To Double Your Savings and the Art of Coupon Stacking

If you’re looking for ways to stretch your budget and save more money while shopping, coupon stacking might be the perfect solution. Savvy shoppers use this strategy to maximize their savings and get the best deal.

Here’s more about coupon stacking, including its pros and cons. Plus, find out how to stack your savings at Costco.

Sean Turner, CTO and co-founder of Swiftly, said, “Simply put, coupon stacking allows shoppers to redeem more than one coupon on a single item to boost their savings.”

For example, shoppers can combine non-identical coupons, like one manufacturer coupon and one store coupon on the purchase of a single product.

Coupon stacking provides a lot of benefits for retailers.

Turner said, “In addition to attracting new customers, coupon stacking helps retailers raise brand awareness for specific products and boosts loyalty amongst existing customers, resulting in increased basket size and higher revenue per customer.”

When it comes to the shoppers, Turner said coupon stacking helps to maximize savings during shopping trips.

“For retailers,” Turner said, “the most obvious disadvantage of coupon stacking is that they cut into profit margins. Additionally, existing customers may delay purchase decisions in order to wait for a specific coupon, which can further cannibalize revenue.

“For shoppers, searching for coupons and offers can sometimes be a tedious and frustrating process. If the experience is complex or difficult to navigate, they won’t put in the time and effort. It can also be easy to overspend, as the temptation to get a good deal can sometimes encourage shoppers to buy products they don’t actually need.”

Turner said that stacking coupons at Costco — in the conventional sense — isn’t really an option since the membership warehouse club only honors its own coupons, which makes combining savings with a manufacturer’s coupon impossible.

According to Costco, it doesn’t accept manufacturer coupons because it distributes its own offers and savings to its members by mail and at its locations throughout each year. A statement on its website further explains:

“Costco makes every effort to offer consistently low prices because our buyers negotiate the best deals with our vendors. Manufacturers, meanwhile, often will simply ‘load’ the cost of a coupon program into the original pricing of their product. Because it ultimately doesn’t provide any advantage to the member, we don’t permit our vendors or buyers to carry out that practice at Costco.”

You can still “stack coupons” at Costco, so to speak, even if it’s not in the traditional way. Todd Stearn, founder and CEO of The Money Manual, gave the following suggestions.

“My favorite way to stack coupons at Costco is really easy,” said Stearn. “I wait for their new online-only sale, then I buy what’s on my list. I stack this by paying with a credit card that rewards me for online shopping. For instance, with the Bank of America Cash Rewards card you earn 3% cash back in the category you pick, such as online shopping. There are other cards that give you cash back at Costco. Just remember, in the physical store, Costco doesn’t accept Mastercard or Discover. But online they do.”

Stearn said another way to stack coupons is to use Costco’s 30-day price adjustment. “So if the price goes down,” he said, “you can get money back for the difference in price.”

It’s important to note the following about Costco’s price adjustment policy:

To request a price adjustment for purchases on Costco.com, you can fill out a form online.

To request a price adjustment for a purchase you made at the warehouse, you will need to visit the returns counter of the Costco warehouse where you made the purchase.

“Another way to stack coupons at Costco is to upload your receipt to a rebate app like Ibotta or Fetch Rewards,” said Stearn. “Scan your receipt into the app and you’ll get a rebate.”

Although you can already get some pretty great deals at Costco, there are ways to stack your savings. You won’t be able to use a manufacturer’s coupon on top of Costco’s automatic savings incentives, but you can make moves like paying with a rewards credit card, using a rebate app or keeping your eye on price adjustments.

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