Customer appreciation

One of my missions in my relationship with David has been to challenge the numerous brand loyalties he developed before he met me. The bargain shopper in me is easily frustrated by his preference for certain brands of food, clothing, and personal care items. Sure, I've found things that work well for me, but I'm usually open to trying alternatives if I find great deals. As the primary shopper in our marriage (though David does a fine job when duty calls), I sometimes present David with alternatives for him to try. And he sometimes (but not always!) tries them.

But I accepted long ago that David will only eat Jif peanut butter. The king of PB&J sandwiches (he takes one to work with him every time he goes, and we even served them at our wedding reception!) is loathe to cover his slices of bread in anything but Jif. So I stock up on it when I find it on sale or have coupons to use. I recently matched a sale with coupons to get some of the new Natural Jif for us to try (and yes, he tried it!). I found it so good (both texture and taste) that I felt compelled to write to the maker.

So I visited Jif.com and typed a little message to customer service, explaining my husband's loyalty to Jif and my delight in their new product. I took the opportunity to request coupons, too.

Less than a week later, this showed up in my mailbox (click the image to see it larger):


Way cool! The two grocery stores we visit most frequently both double coupons (even when the coupon says "do not double"), so I'll get 70 cents off each jar of peanut butter. Yay!

I encourage you to email companies that make things you purchase regularly and request coupons. This isn't the first time it's worked for me (Newman's Own also rewarded my efforts, which is why I have at least 4 jars of our favorite pineapple salsa in the pantry). If you've already done this, please let me know which companies respond well!