Canadian Coupon Terminology | Coupon Abbreviations

We get so many emails here at Grocery Alerts regarding what certain abbreviations. So, I wanted to help out our Canadian friends and provide this handy glossary of popular canadian couponing terms.

Did we miss any?




One dollar off two products. You must buy 2 items to receive any savings; you cannot redeem the coupon on one product for half the value.


Buy one, get one free.

B1G1, B2G1:

Another way to write “buy one, get one”. The “B” stands for “buy”, the “G” stands for “get”. The numbers indicate how many of a product you must buy to qualify and the number of products you get when you redeem the coupon or offer.

Coupon Insert:



Expires or Expiration Date





Manufacturer Coupon:









Rain Check is a written slip that you can request from a store when a sale item is out of stock. When the store restocks the item, after the sale period is over, a raincheck entitles you to purchase for the previous sale price. The store may include an expiration date as well as a quantity limit on your rain check. Rain checks are usually issued at the customer service desk. Some retailers like Walmart will not give rainchecks for “Limited Quantity” items.


Smart Source. A marketing company, Smart Source coupon inserts and website feature coupons from a variety of manufacturers. Smart Source is part of News America Marketing Co. Smart Source coupon inserts can be found in most Sunday papers. These are also found on the aisles.



Stacking Coupons:

Stacking coupons refers to using both a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on one product. Only London Drugs in Canada allows you to “stack”. Multiple manufacturer coupons may be used per item as long as the coupon has different bar codes.

Store Coupon:


Store Loyalty Card:




Tear Pad:






Profile imageAuthor: Steven Zussino on April 13th, 2011. Steven Zussino is the co-founder of Grocery Alerts Canada. He loves to help Canadians save money on groceries. He also runs the blog,

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19 thoughts on “Canadian Coupon Terminology | Coupon Abbreviations

  1. I’m fr Vancouver & new at this…where can i find free coupons for groceries & householsd items
    ie laundry detergent etc etc. 

  2. I would like to know what food stores in Ontario have loyalty cards?? I collect airmiles so I frequent Metro (formerly Dominion) a lot, but what about the others??

    1. @b0cd1a566a34e61922287638184cf161:disqus Metro has a loyalty card that earns you bonus air miles. So does Shoppers Drug Mart and M & M Meats (10% off your first purchase of their online club).

      1. do you mean the Airmiles card?? If so, it’s not really theirs. Airmiles is a company that affiliates with lots of other stores, but Metro is the only food store.

    2. I’d be interested in finding this out too.  The only thing I’ve seen is store credit cards.  I normally shop at Canadian Super Store. 

  3. FPC – Free Product Coupon, this term is used on many coupon blogs. It took me a little while to figure out what it meant. Hope this is useful.

  4. There is so many restriction on the Canadian coupons and how they get interpret, even by the cashiers themselves. It isn’t worth debating in line with them over a 75 cent coupon .. or any other, when people stand in line behind you sighing because your taking too much time.

    My other point is, I don’t understand why Canadian groceries stores don’t have the same offers we see on extreme couponing through TV. The stores match or double coupons or have store loyalty cards, or in store discounts not advertised on products, which would be a tremendous help in keeping shoppers more loyal and attacking them. Right now the Canadian consumer will go to other stores who offer the better deals and is not so loyal to stick with their grocery store they regularly shop at. Canada retailers and manufacturer seem to be so tight with giving things away or sparing any savings to their consumer. This makes me wonder if couponing is really worth the work it takes to get products you really need and want.

    How many people really have the room to stock pile on items they don’t use or need. Although it might be exciting to try, it’s not so practical.It is more exciting to be able to have savings on items you enjoy using!

    There is so much discrepancy once you reach check outs, you get the feeling sometimes the cashier thinks you are trying to cheat the store the way they read and intrepret a coupon. I think they should make couponing easier with dates only of expiration and amount of the savings and forget all the mumbo jumbo restrictions and “ifs” printed in small print. If they are giving 50 cent off .. get over it .. and give 50 cents off!!

    1. I don’t do extreme couponing, I only buy products I normally use and will use a coupon to try a product I am interested in purchasing. 

      I hate it when a cashier scrutinizes a coupon, it makes me feel like a crook.  Not really worth the 50 cents or whatever.  If this happens I say “never mind” and put it aside.

      1. Cashiers MUST scrutinize the coupons….they are looking for: product being purchased matches what the coupon is for; expiration date of the coupon; if it is valid in Canada; looking for words such as per item, per purchase, per transaction, one per customer, etc. The number of times I’ve turned down a coupon because it is NOT for the product they are purchasing, it has EXPIRED, ONE PER CUSTOMER, etc. is unbelievable. I swear people redeeming the coupons DO NOT read them at all.

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