Hot Coupon Alert!

 

By Becky J. Beall

 

If you are anything like me, your day begins with a hot cup of coffee...with creamer! Not just any creamer, but something that compliments my coffee. One that I really like is Coffee Mate French Vanilla, and I have found a wonderful deal to stock up on it.

 

This week Target has 16 oz. Coffee Mate creamer on sale 2/$3 plus Coffee Mate's Facebook page has $1 off coupon that you can print (you can print two of them). And on top of that, Target's cartwheel app has a 5% off coupon for it! Can you say $.42 a bottle?

 

Here is the Facebook link for Coffee Mate (look for the coupon tab):https://www.facebook.com/CoffeemateUSA/app_137656902971961

 

Don't know about the Cartwheel App from Target? Go to your app store on your smart phone and search cartwheel. Download (for free) and start using! Find coupons for items in grocery, clothing and almost anywhere in the store! You can even scan the barcode of an item to see if there is a cartwheel coupon for it. When you find a coupon you want to use, click the ADD button. On the drop-down menu, you will find the button for your barcode. When you check out, show the cashier the barcode to scan and the savings will appear just like magic! Every time you ADD a coupon, it is available (until it expires) on the scannable bar code. So easy!

 

Enjoy that cup of coffee!

The Thing About Rental Cars - Part 2

(AND A GIVEAWAY AT THE END OF THE STORY!!!!!)

By John Graham, guest blogger

A new car is exciting and there is something about the new car experience that only a new car provides. The smell of new leather (or leatherette?). The thunk sound of a solid shutting door. The smell of the engine, heater, air conditioner as they reach maximum

operating temperatures for the first time produces a magical experience. The issue for most is that the experience comes once every 4 or 5 years. More frequently for those with 6 or 7 digits in their savings account balance. Even then for most it is a rare event.

In enters the rental car. If you travel a lot you get to experience a new car each and every week, sometimes two or three in a single week. While all of the cars are not brand new, most of them have fewer miles than the one back home. Last week we discussed they types of cars to rent. This week let’s focus on the excitement, or, the lack thereof, of the actual car you get when you arrive at your destination.

My company uses Hertz as our primary rental company. I generally rent a mid-size, or standard car. Remember, this is a 4-door compact with five seat belts. Go with a full-size and you are looking at the general family/co-worker hauler. Regardless of category some cars are almost fun and some coma inducing. A Maxima or Kia Optima turbo or a high end Hyundai for a couple of days can be fun as they have enough horsepower and gadgets to make the driving at least entertaining. You also may be punished with an Impala or an Altima that lack gadgets and horsepower and essentially represent cars where the engineers are told:

   

‘This year, make the car 10% more boring and if you can hit 12%, bonuses all around!’ 

Let’s not focus on the actual brand of car but instead on the feelings you experience as you get off the plane. You may be picturing yourself in a Mercedes SLS roadster driving down the highway with the top down, sun shining and the wind blowing through your hair (hey, it’s my imagination and I am allowed to visualize myself with hair!). Since I generally rent in the same category, I generally get the same cars. A Ford Fusion (which is nice), the Toyota Camr…(oh, sorry, fell asleep there), most often the Chevrolet Impala. 

After I land I get an e-mail from Hertz telling me what my rental will be. Often I won’t even open the message. I like to wait until I get to the rental agency itself so the surprise lasts longer. I look at the Gold Club board to see what slot my car sits in. As I stroll to my space I look at all the cool cars I pass getting to mine. I dream that maybe, this time, I will I get a Mustang or Camaro or maybe something from across the ocean like a Volvo or maybe a Mercedes.

As I continue down the aisle I anxiously peek over the top of the of the other vehicles looking for my car. Being honest, I also hope I won’t actually see my car because, like birthday and Christmas presents, once I know what the gift, or the car in this case, is, the anticipation and surprise is over.My car may be four or five aisles over and as I pass fun little Fiats or Kia Souls or some other model that I have never driven I assume they will be more fun than my rental. 

As I near slot 761 and still my car remains unseen between the two ginormous SUVs, my anticipation grows. If it is between two expensive to rent Super-size Me’s it must be nice, right? I see my name on the board above the car. This baby will definitely be mine, and what do I find, blazing forth in its full glory? A, wait for it, the car I have been anxiously wondering about since the reservation was made two weeks ago. It is, it is…

A tan Camry.

Yep, that’s right, tan and Camry. Two of the most unexciting words in our language and when put together multiply the dullness  by 263 -- Yes, I have calculated the boringness factor of those words combined and 263 is correct.

Sigh…

Maybe not all is lost? Maybe the car is top of the line! Yes,that’s it, definitely top of the line. I look for the telltale signs that spell ‘F-A-N-C-Y’. Aluminum wheels? No. Extra chrome? No. Body colored bumpers? No. Still not hopeless, maybe the money was spent on interior features. I open the door looking for tan leather, moon roof, built-in GPS, and a digital dash. No, no, no and no again. The tan cloth interior, analog gauges, manual AC/heater controls, and radio with 6 whole buttons to push face me with almost the same gloom that I feel. Sigh again…I look back across the garage and there, just 4 stalls over, a Hemi Charger. 

A Cadillac SRX and a bright orange Challenger just two rows over and all, so close, yet so far. Maybe there is something better in the Gold Choice area? Maybe I should go back and see what else they have available? But my spirit is broken, I have opened a black belt and socks as my Christmas gift. With depression at 110 percent, I give up and load my luggage into the trunk, climb into the driver’s seat, and drive away. 

  

Even the Camry seems sad to be a Camry.

  

I pull out of the lot, popping Benzadrine to remain conscious and I realize that at least I don’t own this car and it is only for a couple days. Besides, I am traveling to Dallas on Thursday. I fondly remember the Camaro SS convertible with only 6 miles on the odometer that once awaited my arrival. Imagining my Camry is a Ferrari I smile -- almost.

That’s the thing about rental cars, getting the one you really want is like dessert at a church pot luck, sometimes it is Sinful Chocolate Decadence and sometimes it is red jello with beets.

Blog followers this month are entered into a giveaway for four tickets to Vulcan Park!  Deadline to follow the blog and "enter" is Aug. 15, when the tickets will be given away to one follower!  www.visitvulcan.com.

The Thing About Rental Cars - Part 1

By John Graham, guest blogger

Summer isn't over yet, and a lot of people will be traveling.  That often means renting a car. I travel a lot, sometimes two or three cities in a single week. That means a lot of rental cars. Each city I go to becomes not only a new experience but an opportunity to drive a different car.

I find there are two experiences that come with renting a car.

First, what type of car to choose? With so many options this is not as simple as it sounds.  Second, the excitement of what car I will get my hands on when I arrive.

For this month, let’s focus on choosing the type of car. When logging on to pick your rental not only will you select the pickup location, arrival time, drop off location and when the car will be returned, you also get to choose what kind of car you want to rent.

The options seem to grow with each passing year. Years ago you had 3 choices - small, medium or large. No, no, no, like cereal, you now have dozens of options. The list of categories is longer than my computer screen. Here are just a few examples and what they really mean.

·       The Sub-compact - That is a euphemism for a pedal operated car. This one is simple, never choose a sub-compact.

·       The Compact - That is the one you choose because your company says you need to save money. It will get you back and forth from the airport but you must admit that you chose the car because you had to be cheap.

·       Mid-size, Full-size, and Luxury - I often wonder what rules rental companies use to define categories. Certainly not rational ones.

o   Mid-size cars should be middle size meaning something that can comfortably fit five people and allow the driver to have his or her own portion of the armrest. To the rental company it means a compact that has a rear middle seatbelt. No actual room for a human that eats, but there is a seatbelt. The mid-size is like your local restaurant that no longer sells a small pizza. You have the choice of a medium, large or extra-large and by golly you will pay more for the medium because, well, it must be larger than a small. The mid-size is by no means middle of anything.

o   Full size cars are what mid-size cars used to be. Five people fit but not necessarily comfortably. Full-size cars come with warnings about sleeping and driving. As you walk to the car you begin to feel drowsy as the boredom of the mundane cars that surround you makes you sleepy. There wasn’t any excitement when they were designed, certainly no thrill when they were built, no celebration when they were delivered and absolutely nothing to make you say ‘Wow, this is going to be fun’. While full size represent what most of us will rent we must all be wary of the sleepiness factor that comes with them. No-Doze needs to be standard in the rental agreement.

o   Luxury cars. Short and sweet – cars for grandma and grandpa. Be extra careful with these boats because the port-side (left hand) turn signals do not turn off. Legend has it that people have rented these land yachts, stopped at their hotels and waking the next day to find that their car was gone, to be found later by the State Police either in Florida or trying like crazy to get there.

·       CUV, SUV, Extended SUVs and Supersize Me - You will pay through the nose for one of these brutes. Not just at the rental lot but also at the gas station, at the parking lot where they won’t fit into any spots, and with the small amount of luggage they can actually hold. This is the car that people say:

      ‘I rented the Supersize Me because there is no way you will get me in a mini-van. These are the   

            best people carriers you can get.'

People really say this, with a straight face, as they lift and muscle their 92 year old grandmother into the third row seat. Meanwhile, she struggles for air due to the high elevation. Don’t forget though, you will look cool doing it.

·       Mini-van - Ah, one of the most maligned vehicles in existence. They are an un-cool car but is that really true? Yes, the first ones, the ones that came out right after the Conestoga wagon were awful things. Under-powered, uncomfortable and ugly. Be honest, does that view still hold? Mini-vans have traveled a long way and now come standard with features like nearly 300 HP, fully digital controls, DVD players, 192 and ½ cup holders, automatic stop baby crying devices and a host of other family features. I have no issue renting a mini-van to transport my family. It truly is the best people mover in the world. It’s not like you are buying it, it is yours for a couple of weeks. If someone makes fun of you just say ‘Hey, it’s a rental’ and then brag at the water cooler about how you would never OWN one of those things all the while thinking about your spouse loading the 18 month old into the middle seat of the Supersize me while standing on tiptoes to do so.

The plethora of categories continue. The Adrenaline collection, the Green Collection, the ‘I Don’t Know What Category This Car Fits’ collection and the list goes on and on. There are just too many to list here.

To summarize, rent the car that works for you and your family, even if it might not be cool or simply because it is cool. It's not like you will be forced to take it home.

That’s the thing about rental cars, tune in NEXT TIME to find out.

 About the author: 

I am 49 years old and am a Yankee that has transplanted to Birmingham. Had I known this areas was so beautiful I would have asked God to let me be born here instead of being a transplant. It will take wild horses to drag me out of this city. I have 3 teenage children and have lost most of my hair as a result.  I have been married for 26 years. While I work in healthcare technology my true passion is for cars. I can't remember a day that I haven't simply loved cars. I don't mean an infatuation but a true, true love of them. In a recent blog post I noted.

"If you love cars, I mean really love them you know what a burden it is to live with this genetic trait. People don't understand us. Conversations about what's playing at the movies? What is on the news? Your neighbor's new baby is really just biding time until you can mention a car and some obscure factoid that would only interest you, and a fellow fuel veined soul. Talking about Weber carbs and the sound they make when the accelerator  is pushed through the firewall makes your heart race, your eyes dart around and makes you, well, ALIVE! " That is me.

I currently own and drive daily a pristine 1974 BMW 2002 and a very ratty, slowly being modified, 1976 BMW 2002.