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Get Paid to Buy Groceries: Checkout 51 App

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I’ll probably still take my coupons…

So I was sitting at the park yesterday talking with the other grownups and the conversations turned to frugal stuff.  This is kinda my roundhouse, but I didn’t really know this particular person and so I didn’t want to get too excited.  Then she mentioned something I had never heard of before: Checkout 51.  Later that night I downloaded the free app to my phone and took a look.

What is Checkout 51?

Basically, you do your grocery shopping, take a picture of your receipt and if you bought something that was on their list of offers, you get a cash amount put in your account.  Once you hit $20 you can request a cheque.

Who is it for?

I think this app would be great for two main categories of shoppers:

  1. People just getting into saving money that think handing coupons over to the cashier will make them look poor.  Hopefully, this stage doesn’t last too long for anybody because it’s pretty silly.  Still, this app basically lets you use coupons but the app will process them for you instead of the store.
  2. Super couponers!  In Canada there aren’t many stores that will double your coupons or let you pull off fun extreme couponing tricks.  A smart couponer here, though, could match a sale item, with a coupon, then get the Checkout51 offer and end up with free items, or even making money!

What Do You Think So Far?

Just for signing up I got $1.  I think I got another $1 for uploading my first receipt, but I’m not sure.  It takes a few business days for the receipt to be processed.  I also got $0.50 for buying sliced bread, but I think that that kind of offer is just something to get you started and won’t be around every week.

Most of the offers were for things I don’t normally buy or didn’t need now.  It’s kinda the same with coupons in general.  But, I do find coupons to use, so I think I’ll be able to find an offer once in a while too.  We are out of canned tuna and they had an offer for flavoured tuna for a $1.00 credit.  I think I saw this tuna on sale for $1.67 at my store.  I wouldn’t spend $1.67 for tuna, but I would spend $0.67!

What’s the Catch?

What they’re really paying you for are your shopping habits.  I feel that because I use my VISA for my purchases, google to search the internet, and my blog to post my opinions, that this kind of information is already out there.  It’s like how I have SwagBucks for web surfing.

I think they may also be hoping that people will start uploading their receipts, but not keep up with it to the $20 mark.  So, they would basically get your shopping habits for a few weeks for free.

I’ll give another update when I hit the $20 mark.  Not sure how long it will take or if I’ll get there.  It’s a fun way to try to knock down the grocery bill though, so I’m pretty excited about it.  Also excited to take Little Miss to the park and let my new friend know I signed up!


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Written by mom

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