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I am pretty shocked (annoyed and ticked actually) that companies have decided (for the most part) to stop inserting coupons in our Sunday papers! Do they not realize that prices have gone up like crazy for many things, stores aren't having the sales that they used to, many people have a seriously reduced or non-existent income now? Do they not care that their products won't sell as much?
Personally, when having to watch money first things to go are "better/name brands" of products, etc. - seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot/bottom line.
It would seem to me that if someone needed to watch their finances (my family does) that they wouldn't even be using coupons. Usually, the store brands are a much better deal and stores don't usually issue coupons for their own brands.
I'm sure this may vary by location, but around here using coupons for brand name items is just not worth it. The stores here don't offer double coupons. Even when they have a sale on brand name items, it's still too expensive even with the coupons.
There are some exceptions. My mom uses coupons for name brand name beauty products as store brand makeup is usually garbage in her opinion. Batteries would be another item where coupons are helpful. I've come to the conclusion that Energizer and Duracell are the way to go. The Kirkland (Costco) brand and Rayovac have a tendency to leak.
I'd recommend checking out Target and their Target Circle program. They have digital coupons and good sales sometimes. I have their store credit card and get 5% off each purchase. I pay the card off in full every month to avoid interest charges. I recently purchased around $60 worth of pet food there for about $40. Great deals and coupons.
I am pretty shocked (annoyed and ticked actually) that companies have decided (for the most part) to stop inserting coupons in our Sunday papers!
While I have seen a slight decrease, I still get at least one pack of coupons with the paper. Some weeks, there are three or more packs.
What I have seen decrease more is the number of ad inserts, especially from companies like WalMart, Target, etc. They used to have an ad/flyer every week. Now, it is more like once a month, if that.
I was not aware that newspapers are no longer inserting coupons. When the local newspaper was sold to GateHouse some years ago, they changed my 1-year subscription to a 10-month subscription with their premium addition scam. I, in turn, changed my decades old subscription into a cancellation.
At $286 for a one-year subscription that ends up being a 10-month subscription, it would take a lot of coupons to make up for the charge.
Cleaning products - They can't make them fast enough to keep up with demand, why try to increase demand at a lower profit?
Canned Veggies - at least around here some veggies haven't been on the shelf for months and won't be readily available because crops were down this year and demand was up
Canned soda (always a loss leader to get you in the store) Still in short supply and only the best sellers being produced because demand is so strong
Then there is the other problem with coupons - you have to TOUCH them. No one wants to handle items any more than necessary. Cashiers don't customers don't, management doesn't. And a whole subset of consumers are using curbside or delivery and want it as touchless as possible.
So manufacturers have gone to digital online rewards programs instead. When the old 'Boxtops for Education went digital a couple years ago I knew paper coupons were on their deathbed. venders want more feedback for their advertising dollar. They don't just want the product bought, they want to know who buys it, how often they buy it , They can get that more accurately via digital promotions.
Print advertising is dying, and has been for years. I remember the NYT Sunday edition full of double truck ads (full opposing pages) and so thick with ads that it was as thick as a big city yellow pages ... remember those? Ads went out of those first.
Coupons have never really been about saving consumers money. They are the free toke from the drug dealer, meant to get you interested and then hooked. Some of us were able to game them for a while, but those loopholes closed a while back, and the stores figured out such tactics as raising prices to twice the amount of a coupon so that each coupon use meant added revenue to cover their cost of processing. Net effect for the consumer? Higher costs using coupons than not.
Online discounts and coupons have taken over, because stores want to have their ap on your phone, so your shopping habits can be traced and sold for a profit. One way to do that is stop physical coupons to force consumers into their neat little corrals.
Trust me, manufacturers and stores are not "shooting themselves in the foot." They have zero care about any consumer who has no money, except to get them out of their database and store. That is capitalism and a market economy. The drive to entice and entrap the rich is huge. The drive to eliminate the time wasters and poor is equally huge.
About the only "coupons" I use today are online competing 40% discount coupons for Michaels and Hobby Lobby, which being their outrageous prices down to more fair and equitable ones.
........many people have a seriously reduced or non-existent income now?....
I still get local coupons that are only good for the local store. Those come with the grocery ad inserts.
However, national brands, the only reason they do coupons is to temp people to try their product. Grocery stores are selling out. There is no reason to tempt anyone to come in and buy. The stuff is selling at a record rate, without coupons.
Food manufacturers are not running charities. It isn't their job to provide you with low cost food when your income has been reduced.
I'm hearing from all sorts of different places in the USA that there are help wanted signs up everywhere. if your income has been reduced, I suggest a new job, or maybe an additional part time job.
Coupons are plentiful online. No one is sitting with paper flyers and scissors anymore.
Check websites like Flipp.com and start browsing the ads. It's much faster too.
Select your stores, coupons and use them at the cash register.
This forum and shopping forum are great resource.
BTW:
Most places still have paper coupons at their stores.
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