If you’re a new visitor from LifeScript, welcome! You might also enjoy checking out my “Coupon Articles” section, which features more how-tos and tips.

We talked earlier in the week about how to identify legitimate printable coupons, which brings me to another question I hear frequently: How do you know what stores will and won’t take Internet printable coupons?

Every store has its own coupon policy, and while some have a chain-wide coupon redemption policy, many grocers determine their own policies at store level – so your experience redeeming coupons can vary from location to location, even within the same chain. To find out what your local supermarket’s policies are, give them a call or stop by their customer service desk to inquire.

You may also be interested to check out this post on the “Hey, It’s Free” blog, which details the responses they received when writing to 34 companies regarding their printable coupon policy. A few months ago, Safeway released its first store-wide policy regarding printable coupons, which can be found on their website here. I was very disappointed to see how restrictive these new policies are – they will no longer accept Internet printables for free products, and they will not accept printable coupons for more than 50% of a product’s value, among other things. As a result, I haven’t used printable coupons at Safeway since this policy was posted. I’m guessing that these policies were implemented out of concern about coupon fraud – and while most high-value printable coupons are 100% legitimate, the higher the value, the higher the risk involved for the store if the coupon becomes compromised or turns out to be a fraud. But as time goes on, coupon printing technology will become more and more secure, and I hope that Safeway can update its policy to be less restrictive in the future.

Got a frugal question for Super Coupon Girl? Feel free to send me an email at supercoupongirl@gmail.com, and your question may be addressed in a future Q&A column.