Contents:
Nearly a decade ago, couponers were up in arms as RedPlum coupon inserts began disappearing from Sunday newspapers all over the country. At the time, RedPlum publisher Valassis was looking to boost distribution by delivering inserts through the mail instead.
But now, Valassis is removing inserts from big-city newspapers again — for entirely different reasons. Atlanta is the latest city to be affected. Instead, they got none. And more big cities are expected to be added to that list in the coming weeks and months. In response to numerous specific questions from Coupons in the News about its efforts to thwart the diversion of what are known in the business as free-standing inserts FSIs , Valassis offered only a brief circumspect statement that just sort-of confirmed its motives.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, meanwhile, was more forthcoming. That echoes what the Tampa Tribune said back in , the first time inserts were removed from specific newspapers in order to combat theft. He said coupons identified as coming from Tampa inserts were being redeemed at three times the national rate, indicating that they were being distributed far beyond the market for which they were intended.
And since manufacturers only budget for a certain percentage of their coupons to be redeemed, the redistribution of their offers causes them to pay out more than they anticipated — which can cause them to offer fewer and less valuable coupons in the future. Up til now, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Tampa have been among the most common sources of coupon inserts sold online — and not necessarily because they have the best coupons. Other sellers are quite open about their activities, running publicly-accessible websites where they claim to buy extra copies of the Sunday paper in order to get extra coupon inserts to sell.
Perhaps some of them do. But how many are really buying thousands of newspapers, from multiple different cities, and somehow making the coupons available for sale days or even weeks before the Sunday papers are even printed? Just last month, a Rhode Island police officer was convicted of breaking into a newspaper distribution facility to steal inserts , which his wife then allegedly sold on Instagram.
Last year, two South Carolina men were convicted of walking right into a newspaper distribution facility to steal coupons by the bundle , in order to provide them to online insert sellers. Often, insert theft is an inside job. Earlier this year, a former newspaper employee in Pennsylvania was convicted of using his connections to gain access to hundreds of insert bundles , which he intended to provide to an online seller.
So what are newspapers doing about the problem of all of those coupon inserts walking right out their back doors? Not enough, according to the insert publishers. The Tampa Tribune and several other big-city newspapers worked with SmartSource publisher News America Marketing several years ago, to ask the public and their own employees for information about who was responsible for stealing and selling so many inserts. That effort led to some successes, Cole said. But apparently not enough of them. Neither Valassis nor the AJC offered any indication of whether Valassis might eventually reverse its decision, should the security situation improve in the future.
Couponers in Atlanta, like those before them in Phoenix, Detroit, Los Angeles and Tampa, are understandably upset about losing their coupon inserts. Their Sunday papers will still include SmartSource coupons. So some upset couponers are searching for someone to blame. And many are directing their ire at Valassis. One commenter went even further: Why should I, if I have to pay more than others to purchase them?
One might accuse Valassis of killing a fly with a sledgehammer, trying to thwart a handful of coupon thieves by dropping coupon nukes on entire cities at a time. For years, concerned couponers have worried that the coupon scammers and abusers are going to end up ruining it for everyone. I subscribed to my local Sunday for the coupons. By removing these inserts in the papers is supporting these online coupon insert seller and clipping services.
The irony of this move by Red Plum is that it will forced honest coupon users to turn to ordering these inserts as this is the only was to secure them now. So the very issue they are trying to stop, is the only option available. And I know you can print 1 copy of some on their site, but many are not available to print. The only reason I subscribe to my Sunday newspaper is for the coupons. Removing them will really hurt newspapers, as well as we couponers.
I will stop my subscription if there are no coupons in the paper. It usually includes a coupon booklet too, which I use. You make a great point here.
The reason Sunday newspaper subscribership is so much higher than weekdays is mainly due to the coupons. So it is incumbent upon the newspaper companies to secure those coupons as though they are money.
Yet so many newspaper companies across the country have very poor controls. As a result, many of those newspapers are now being denied Sunday inserts. They are reaping what they have sown by turning a blind eye to the theft and diversion of inserts over these past several years. In many cases, these companies were actually profiting from the sale of those inserts. But it was short-sighted, as now they have been cut off and their Sunday subscribership suffers. They are in the midst of learning that very painful and age-old lesson: Hold one for an update.
And for the one that thinks couponers are theifs.
Not enough, according to the insert publishers. Which means they are being sold down the chain. By clicking to print your coupons you agree to our terms of use. Accidentally conflated the two in L. Scroll thru the lists of places I recommend in this post.
We are only doing what we e are allowed! Loop holes is what hey call them. You are spot on!
I get 5 papers just so I can have a good amount of coupons. want to buy a ton of newspapers then there are coupon clipping sites where you. I hope this helps you all find the best newspapers for inserts in your area! They ranked California/Alabama/Florida/Texas. LA Times; Palm.
Coupons are a form of virtual currency. The printable coupons are from the damn source itself and is totally legitimate. So get your facts straight before you go off on someone like that. I agree… That is fraud, simply stated. These people sell bundles of all day long. Which means they are being sold down the chain.
They get great coupons there. I am a fraud investigator, that is my profession. For my to commit coupon fraud, or any type of fraud, would not only be an end my career, but against everything I believe in and work so hard to accomplish every day. Another thing that annoys me is how these people have full blown stores in their homes where they sell items at near or over retail.
You can always clip available coupons to your favorite store loyalty program no matter what device you are on. We appreciate your patience while we move our coupons to RetailMeNot.
Topics in this post: Click on the plus sign for an individual coupon to add it to the print queue. Click there to open the queue. Click on the "Print these coupons now" button to print all of the coupons in the queue. We use a print driver that must be installed before printing. This is a small, secure application that installs on your desktop or laptop. If you see a coupon that has a download option click to select your default grocer. Coupons Blog Location Search.
Print these coupons now You have not added any coupons to the print queue. Print these coupons now By clicking to print your coupons you agree to our terms of use.