What Are the Best Coupons to Send Overseas?

While military families are appreciative of any coupons that they can get, there are some types of coupons that are more needed and more valuable to these families than others. This is because not only are prices generally higher at the overseas commissaries and post exchanges on base, but they do not have the variety of products that we are blessed with here in the United States.

Because of typical military family lifestyle, there are some coupons that are more in demand than others, even within the products that are available. Military families tend to be more practical in their shopping out of necessity, choosing basics over luxuries. This influences the types of coupons that they need the most.

Most manufacturer coupons can be used. These are coupons that are issued by the maker of a product, such as $1 off of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. There are some exceptions with manufacturer coupons, such as if the product is only sold locally or in limited areas. For example, $0.75 off of a pint of ice cream from a local dairy would not be able to be used.

Store coupons are another type of coupon that cannot usually be redeemed by military families overseas. These are coupons that are only good for one particular type of store, such as Target. You would usually find these in store flyers, in-store coupon booklets or received in the mail. Some store coupons are published in Sunday inserts as well.

Out of all of the coupons that can be redeemed overseas, diaper coupons are probably the number one type of coupon that is needed, followed by any type of baby care coupon, including ones for formula, baby wipes, baby bath and shampoo, and baby lotion. Many military families are young families with children.

In contrast, coupons for non-necessity items, such as hair coloring and cosmetics are not as requested. Vitamins and first aid product coupons are in lower demand for military families overseas.

Can Military Families Use Printable Coupons?

Have you noticed that some of the best coupons, some of the most high value coupons, come in printable form? Manufacturers seem to save the best coupons for their own website promotions, or for coupon printing services, such as Coupons.com.

The good news is that military families can use printable coupons, according to commisaries.com. Commissaries (where military families shop) are more than happy to take printable coupons, as long as they are valid ones. Because commissaries are only allowed to sell groceries and other products for the exact cost of getting the items into the store, they have to be really careful about losing any money to fraudulent coupons.

How can you tell if a coupon is valid? Well, printing it out on a legitimate website, goes a long way to ensuring that it is a real coupon, of course. Any printed coupon should also following the following rules:

• The coupon should have a barcode with a product identification number on it.
• The coupon should not be for a free product without a purchase (buy one get one free is okay).
• The coupon should have a dot scan barcode, but only if the coupon actually says not to use it without one. (This prevents people from passing off illegal photocopied coupons).
• The coupon should not be for a P&G product, since that company does not currently issue or authorize printable coupons.

Military families could really use printable coupons. While it is true that they may have some limited access to printing coupons, depending where they are stationed, this is not guaranteed. Many of these families have no access or resources at all for printing coupons. Even for those that do, the cost and availability of printer ink and paper can sometimes be prohibitive.

Printing extra coupons to send to military families can be easy. There are many websites that allow you to print free coupons. Often, you can print entire sheets of coupons, only some of which you want to use. Why not save the rest to send overseas?