Coupon Stealing *Big No-No*

This week I recieved an email from a frustrated  reader who has been trying to purchase the Sunday newspaper just to find out someone had stolen the coupons out. Many of us out there can relate. Here is her email:

     “I am from Walla Walla and someone has been stealing coupons out of newspapers all over town. One of our Safeways actually posted a sign by their papers saying it is a crime to steal coupons. I have personally paid $1.75 for a paper out of a newspaper vendor box (to get the coupons) twice now and the coupons were missing both times. I also went to the dollar store to get a paper on Sunday and they were missing out of every single paper. The ladies that work there helped me go through each of them, when I noticed that they were missing from the paper on the top (I have been burned too many times now not to check before I buy). Sometime between the time of delivery at 5 am and the time the store opened, someone had come and taken all the coupons out of all of the the Tri City Heralds that were sitting by their door. They were going to report it. Anyway, my husband was right on when he said, “if they are going to steal, why don’t they skip the coupons and just steal the product, it’s the SAME THING!”

What we save couponing is incredible, but if it costs us our dignity, it is not worth the price!
— Terri

Stealing coupons from the newspapers is indeed very wrong, and I myself have been the victim of that crime numerous times. And I get emails often about this problem as well. Many people go in to buy newspapers for the coupons and no coupons..they just wasted the $1.75 they paid.

It is WRONG to take coupons out of the newspapers!  This is Stealing. It is dishonest.

Some of the reasons people steal coupons:

• So they dont have to pay for the newspapers, they are expensive!
•  They think perhaps that normally people dont use the coupons anyways so they wont miss them.
•  The Sunday papers are still there from Sunday (and its Monday now, that maybe they will go to waste, ect.)

Whatever the reason is, it is not acceptable to steal the coupons out.  If you are desperate for multiple coupon booklets for free you can always

• recycle dumpster dive (get permission first)
• set up mini recycling bins at various coffee-shops, restaurants ect that you upkeep
• You can also contact the grocery stores and ask them if you can have the coupons out of the newspapers that dont sell (that way you are doing this the right way. )
•  Perhaps there is a hotel in your city that gives out newspapers and would allow you to get coupons from the ones that didnt get handed out.
• Check with your local library as well for coupons in the sunday papers they display (ask them first).

I second Terri’s saying from the above email:

What we save couponing is incredible, but if it costs us our dignity, it is not worth the price!

About Karrie

Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...