What Happened to Coupons.com! No More Changing Zip Codes!

Well as I reported the other day on the Facebook page, in the last few days Coupons.com has changed the way they let you access coupons. Over the last year or two, I have published all the different coupons that showed up in different zip codes on my Daily National Master Coupons.com page. Here is a excerpt of why I posted them,

Every Sunday we get various coupon inserts in the mail. Believe it or not, not everyone in the country gets the same coupons. Manufacturers release different coupons or different valued coupons across the many large markets across the US. What that means is we dont always get the “best” coupons. Similarly, Coupons.com, the largest Printable Coupon location, releases printable coupons PER Zip Code. This means that Manufacturers also have the choice who sees what coupons and where. You have seen many deals here that require you to Change the Zip Code first before the coupon is available to print. What this page is, is a list of coupons of over 40 Zip Codes from the major markets across the US, and a Unique Master list of the Coupons. That Basically gives us ALL available printable coupons through Coupons.com! 🙂 Some of the best coupons are available for short time.

We have all enjoyed using these little ’boutique” coupons that show up.  But it looks like there has been a change that will be permanent. Coupons.com now only allows you to see the “available” coupons from where you IP address originates. That means if you live in Portland, Oregon, you will only see the set of coupons that Portland Oregon is allowed to access/print.  If you live in Seattle, Washington you will only see the set of coupons that Seattle, Washington is allowed to access/print.  Remember that we ALL see 98% of the same coupons.  Its just that each area gets 1 or 2 special coupons.

There are various websites and methods that allow us to change our “Zip Code.”  These no longer work, because again, Coupons.com reads our incoming IP address, and automatically chooses what coupons we see/where we are from.

I do not ultimately understand the reason for this change.  Manufacturers DO issue great little coupons to certain areas in the US each week in the newspaper.  But the circulation of those coupons are well over the mid-hundreds of thousands plus.  Coupons.com must assume that making a certain printable coupon for a certain area will STILL get the traffic.  I doubt very much that hundreds of thousands plus will log in and even notice that special coupon being there.  Coupons ARE a marketing tool….in this case a ‘hidden” marketing tool…hehe

I doubt that you can complain to them. They have been around a long time, and they are biggest printable coupons source in the US, and that’s just the way it is.  Although if you do have an opinion you could always share it with them. 🙂

At the end of the day, I will still post a Master List from the Portland Oregon area.  Most of the time that list will be 98%+ seeable/printable for you.

Is there a way around all this?  Well I do not want to openly suggest there is a way to circumvent their service.  You will need to be at a computer from a certain area to print the Special Zip Code Coupons.  OR, LEGITIMATELY, as of today, if you have a phone that prints to a printer, if you are able to turn OFF “location services’ on your phone, then if you log in to your FREE Coupons.com account and change your State and Zip Code to one of these other areas, you will be able to see and print these coupons.  What a pain and a hassle, but for those who like to hold on to things.  There ya go. 🙂