Teachers who attend our Summer Institute in Palo Alto become NGPF Fellows the following school year -- this Fellowship includes presenting with us at PD sessions, offering NGPF feedback on products, writing guest blog posts, ... the list goes on.

I'm excited to feature a Tech Tool Review from Aric Weiker of Interlake High School in Bellevue, WA. Here's what Aric has to say...

Tech Tool: Honey or Honey.com

Cost: Free, but requires registration

Use Case: 

Honey is a coupon and discount-finding service for consumers that launches as an extension to browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. As part of a consumer or budgeting unit, teachers can demonstrate how this technology can help students find the lowest price and best discount for a product online before completing the check-out process. Once installed, the Honey extension pops up during the check-out process and tries to apply coupon codes from a list the technology compiles. In most cases, coupons for free shipping are available and in some cases, savings of an additional 5% to 20% are likely.

Besides the coupon application service, Honey has its own rewards program and notification service. The rewards program allows users to collect Honey “gold” for purchases made on third-party sites. Once accumulated, the “gold” can be exchanged for gift cards at common retailers. The notification service is called droplist and will contact a user when a product falls below a certain threshold price.

Three messages here for students:

• Technology is making it easier to find discounts and the best prices online.

• Honey is a good example of a browser extension that can be installed quickly and that requires little effort by the user.

• Be aware that these types of companies are interested in partnering with retailers to sell you more, so keep wants vs. needs in mind if you sign up for Honey or similar services. 

Implementation Guidance:

1. Navigate to honey.com
2. Verify that your computer is using one of the following browsers: chrome, safari, firefox, opera, edge
3. Create a new account by linking it to Google, Facebook or an e-mail with a new password combination
4. Navigate to Amazon or your favorite e-commerce website (for my demo I use AirportParkingReservations.com since they always have working coupons)
5. Select a product and add it to your shopping cart
6. Proceed to check out and you will see the honey window pop up.
7. Click on the Apply Coupons button and then watch as Honey tries to match a coupon from its list to one that will work
8. If the coupon works, great, you get a discount.
9. If it doesn’t, you can still earn Honey Gold points.

Pitfalls to Avoid:

The mobile app is different, so beware. It is focused on helping the user search for general discounts rather than interacting specifically with the shopping cart coupon codes at check-out. Be aware of privacy issues since Honey will ask you for permission to use your location and social media contacts. 

Example You Have Used:

I demo the steps above and then go to airportparkingreservations.com to show how Honey helps me find a $5 off coupon. While the savings are small, I mention that they add up over time and that I calculated that I saved $500 last year by using Honey to search for coupons every time I check out from a shopping cart.

About the Author

Laura Matchett

After graduating with an education degree and spending 7 years in an elementary classroom, Laura made the switch to the non-profit world and loves interacting with students, educators and business professionals across the country. She is passionate about all students having access to high quality education and views personal finance education as one way to ‘level the playing field’. When Laura is not locating or creating high quality educational resources, you can find her mountain biking or searching for the best ramen in town!

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