Here’s How Couponing Will Change In 2026

There’s a constructive way and a lazy way to present a year-end lookahead to what’s expected in the year to come. “In 2026, shoppers will use more digital coupons. In 2026, shoppers will buy more groceries online…”

That’s the lazy way. Vague predictions involving ongoing trends is little more than a way to fill space during a slow news period over the holidays. But you’d expect more than that from Coupons in the News, wouldn’t you??

Each year, rather than making fanciful predictions or obvious observations that are quickly forgotten, we take a look at actual events that are planned, or likely, to happen in the new year, which will affect your shopping and couponing experiences. Here are a handful that you can watch for in 2026:

Extending the digital debate

The push for legislation to regulate digital coupons topped yesterday’s list of the most important coupon stories of 2025. Further action in 2026 could push the issue to the top of next year’s list as well.

San Diego’s new law requiring in-store, non-digital alternatives to digital-only grocery deals has been in effect for almost three months now. For the most part, the measure has accomplished what its sponsors set out to do – making digital coupons and discounts more accessible to those without digital access. But there have been a few bumps in the road. The city, its retailers and residents are learning as they go, since San Diego was the very first jurisdiction in the country to pass such a law.

And in 2026, several others are vying to be the next. Los Angeles lawmakers are poised to consider a similar measure in the new year. San Francisco lawmakers have been urged to do the same. And several state legislatures still have bills pending that would impose similar regulations statewide.

All of them are likely to be looking to San Diego to determine whether its ordinance is a model for the nation – or a cautionary tale about what not to do.

Universal coupons become more universal

This time they mean it. The industry group responsible for the universal coupon promises that “full-scale mass retail integration is slated for early 2026.”

Universal coupons – mobile grocery coupons that can be stored and accessed on your digital device and used anywhere you shop – have been the industry’s white whale for years. The format got its first field test five long years ago. It finally launched with its first major retail partner a year ago. Now, 2026 is the year The Coupon Bureau predicts the universal coupon will go from niche product to mainstream offering.

Right now, universal coupons are available via the Coupon24 app and redeemable at CVS stores nationwide, and a couple of dozen regional retailers. The list of participating retailers has been essentially stagnant all year. But the names of at least two major national retailers have been mentioned as next to sign on in the coming months.

The success of universal coupons will require manufacturers to make offers, retailers to accept them, and consumers to use them. If one of those pieces is missing, it will never work. TCB hopes that adding more big-name retailers in the new year will be the very tipping point that’s needed for the rest of the elements to fall into place, and allow you to use universal coupons at a store near you in 2026.

Does this smell funny to you?

You may use coupons, you may shop the sales, but you could be wasting money anyway if you end up tossing out perfectly-good products with confusing date labels.

One state is hoping to solve that problem in the year ahead. Product manufacturers have until July 2026 to comply with a first-of-its-kind law in California mandating clearer, less confusing expiration date descriptions on perishable foods.

Shoppers perplexed by labels reading “best by,” “use by,” “sell by” and other imprecise phrases have long relied on the smell test, or the conservative conclusion “when in doubt, throw it out.” But by mid-2026, all perishable products sold in California must use only one of two phrases when listing expiration dates: “BEST if Used By,” and the simpler “USE By.” The first is a suggestion, the second a warning – the difference between “expired” food that may not taste its best, and spoiled food that could make you sick.

If manufacturers have to change their labels in the country’s most populous state, they may decide to do so everywhere for simplicity and consistency’s sake. Then shoppers everywhere could benefit – after all, no matter how good you are at saving money on your groceries, the most expensive food is the food you throw out.

Grocery shopping becomes less taxing

Imagine seeing your grocery bills go down without having to clip a single coupon. That’s what is happening in an increasing number of states, as the idea of imposing a state sales tax on grocery purchases falls further out of favor.

Arkansas and Illinois are the latest to join a growing list of states that will no longer collect state sales taxes on groceries in 2026. That will leave only eight states that still do so. Affordability concerns have largely prompted the trend, as lawmakers have pledged to provide citizens with just a bit of financial relief on their everyday purchases.

But local governments have bills to pay, too. Just because states have eliminated sales tax on groceries doesn’t mean local municipalities are doing the same. In Illinois, for example, some localities are simply replacing the rescinded state grocery sales tax with an equivalent sales tax of their own.

So the good news/bad news for the new year is that some shoppers may find they have more money in one of their pockets – but the taxman is simply taking that money out of their other.

Making cents at the grocery store

Due to arcane laws enacted during the era of trading stamps, coupons often state that they’re worth 1/100th of a cent, raising the prospect that you could collect a hundred of them and redeem them in store for a penny.

If your stores have any pennies, that is.

Penny production officially ended last month, and coin-related chaos ensued sooner than most people expected. Even though previously-minted pennies remain in circulation, many stores started running out. And in the absence of any official guidance, they all made up their own rules about rounding off prices for those paying in cash, even as some states’ laws technically prohibit them from doing so.

2026 will be the first time in 232 years that no new one-cent coins will go into circulation, to replace older ones that inevitably seem to disappear. And retailers are pleading for national regulations on how to handle the change. Should they round up or down to the nearest nickel, even if that means running afoul of state laws prohibiting businesses from charging more for customers paying in cash? Should they still accept pennies if someone has exact change? And how should sales tax be calculated?

States and businesses are hoping for answers in the new year. Until then, save up your cents – some stores might even pay you for them.

Saving with Save in 2026

2026 will be the first year in most couponers’ lifetimes that only a single provider will be publishing printed coupon inserts. Whether stuffed into the Sunday newspaper, or delivered to your mailbox or doorstep, Save is now the last insert standing, after SmartSource called it quits earlier this year.

In some ways, having the market all to itself gives Save’s publisher that much more incentive to keep it going. And the legislative backlash to digital-only deals has shown there is still a demand for good old-fashioned paper coupons.

So as we head into 2026, keep those scissors handy – there’s a new Save insert expected this coming weekend, so your Sunday tradition of clipping coupons can continue, for at least a little while longer.

However you get your coupons, be sure to stay informed by keeping up with Coupons in the News in the new year. Because, after all, an educated consumer is the best couponer! Thank you for reading, happy New Year, and happy couponing in 2026!

Image source: BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash