This week’s syndicated Super-Couponing Tips column is entitled “Newspaper personnel discuss coupon theft.” Here’s an excerpt:
“Dear Jill,In the last couple of years, the problems caused for us by extreme couponers are major. Bundles of advertising sections for the Sunday paper are being stolen so the couponers can sell the whole bundles to other extreme couponers. People drive through neighborhoods after the papers have been delivered and steal them from driveways.
There are so many problems with this (besides the outright illegality of stealing something that isn’t yours). One is that the person who delivers the papers is blamed for not delivering the papers. They also get charged for each of the missed paper complaints. At our business, the going rate is $2 per daily paper and $4 for each Sunday paper. They are only paid on average less than 15 cents to deliver each paper Mon-Sat, and maybe 25 cents average for each Sunday paper.”
Read this entire column at NWItimes.com.
My Super-Couponing Tips column appears in newspapers around the country to a weekly readership of over 20 million people!
jasjas says
After reading Sunday’s paper I got somewhat annoyed. I get two papers every week and have for man years. Almost every Sunday there are differences between the two papers.
Sometimes one paper will have a sale add the other does not, or one will have 3 or 4 of an add and the other nothing.
Well this also happens with coupons.
I have called the paper to complain and let them know there are differences but to be honest they do not care I bet the advertisers would if they knew some of the papers did not have their sale adds in them.
Today i am missing a Red Plum coupon insert. I usually look through it to see if it is worth making the call but most of the time it is.
I realize a machine is doing the stuffing but i think the carrier’s need to calm down a little and get after the newspaper itself for putting out a low quality product.
If you know you have subscribers that get more than one copy of the paper it might save you some time if you would take a minute and go through and check a few papers and set them after all we are the ones who will know when there is an insert missing or a coupon we may want for a store or restaurant.