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...
Comments & Reviews
Sarah A. says
I moved here a year ago from Dallas, TX. The Dallas Morning News started putting all the ads in plastic wrap because of the stealing problem. It made it very easy to see which papers had the ads stolen from them. I wish the Tri-City Herald would do the same.
theresa says
It is funny how you can get different answers from different employees of the same newspaper. I too called the Tri City Herald and the woman I spoke to assured me that they purchased enough inserts for all of their papers and it would be a rare instance that they would run out and not put all the inserts in every paper.
Also, when we did a paper route (years ago) the inserts were already in there.It seems like a great idea to just have them delivered!I do hope people quit stealing coupons though, in case I or anyone else wants to use them. There was a checker watching me with a questioning look a couple weeks ago when I was checking through a paper to make sure it had the coupons still in it. I just smiled but I wanted to defend myself against her questioning look and say “I am not stealing coupons.” Too bad I had to wonder if that is what she was thinking, because it is so common.
brittney says
We have had that problem but we found out it is our delivery boys not inserting the coupons because of the extra work.
Kerrin says
I am also from the Walla Walla area… I was running around purchasing extra papers at the coin boxes, until 2 weeks in a row every paper extra I purchased was missing the inserts. It isn’t worth paying and not getting the inserts. I phoned the Tri City Herald and my paper guy said that most of the papers put in the coin boxes don’t have all the ads. I then asked him if he can just deliver me more papers to my door… they worked it out for me! Now I just pay to have them come to my door instead of running around buying extra papers for the inserts (that aren’t there).
Jen says
FWIW, there’s been a known problem in my area (central PA) with some of the carriers who deliver the papers. For whatever reason they choose NOT to put the inserts in the paper. Even though the paper CLEARLY states on the front page “contains X $ worth of coupons”.
Finally enough people complained to the paper, and the route carrier was fired. Apparently they were keeping and selling the coupons, or just didn’t feel like putting them in the paper because it “took too much time”.
Now whenever I get a paper I always check. If there’s none in there, I’ll go to another store and send the paper an e-mail complaining about the no coupons issue. The paper knows that this is the reason they sell so many papers, so they want to make sure that they are really being put in. So if enough people report that X store doesn’t have coupons, they will audit that’s persons route, and figure out what went wrong. This used to be a rampant problem in my area, but not anymore! 🙂
Michele says
Sunday morning I look through the ads decide wich coupons I want the most and then order them on Ebay. It makes it easy and I don’t have to run around looking for more papers.
Theresa says
I’ve learned too that you need to check your papers. My biggest disappointment is when I put my money in one of the vendor boxes open and find out there’s no coupons and I can’t get my money back. But as a former paper carrier I do know that if you live in Tri-Cities and you don’t get your coupons just call the Herald and leave a message. Let them know how many papers you purchased where you purchased them from and your home address and name and if it’s early enough in the day you will probably get them delivered that day, if it’s later you will get them the next morning. But for anyone thinking they can just score free papers all the time they do track this. I am also with Genni Karrie has a great deal on the paper I need to stop procrastinating and sign up for mine.
Pam says
Are you sure all your inserts that are missing were stolen? We are having a problem in the Twin Cities with papers that never get the inserts put in them. I’ve talked with the supervisor of that division and she said they only get a limited number of inserts from SS and RP. Home delivery is number one priority, then the Sunday paper, then the early Sunday paper we get on Saturday (just started this last fall). She knows many papers get filled without the inserts and they have asked SS and RP for more. She said the next step was for us to contact SS and RP ourselves and tell them just how important it is for all of our papers to be filled with them. I am an avid paper checker for inserts and yes, it is frustrating. Although I am waiting for a WAG manager to call me from my email I sent complaining that last Sunday not one paper had inserts just incase this is a case of theft. I’m just saying, dont blame all the missing inserts on theft.
Cindy W. says
I feel her pain. Two of the past three weeks when I purchased extra papers I got home to discover the coupon inserts were missing. It is so annoying not to mention that I am out $4 for both papers and no coupons to show for it. Stealing is stealing.
Genni says
You can always get the hook up that Karri has… its a great deal..1.00 a paper and it comes right to your door so you are ready when you go out.
christi says
I’ve gotten a paper without the proper coupons in the past also. Totally disappointing. I always take a glance to make sure the coupons are in the paper now. My integrity is worth WAY MORE than a $2.00 Sunday paper.
Ember says
Thx for posting this. Stolen ad inserts are indeed VERY frustrating. I’ve gotten home with a paper once to find it didn’t have the coupon inserts. I’ll never buy the Sunday paper w/o looking to see all ads are there again though.
Emily says
Seems to happen to me every once in a while too. I got a paper out of the vendor box a few weeks ago and didn’t look until I got home to realize that the SS was stolen out of both of them. Very frusterating!
KarenG says
I’ve had missing coupons…the Albies in Kennewick is particularly vulnerable because they keep their papers in the foyer of the store. THe Richland Albies has them at customer service and the other day I had a conversation with the nice lady behind the counter. I was going to buy another paper and was looking to be sure the ads were there, and she was standing sentry over them like a mother hen because people have been stealing the coupons out and returning a ‘coupon gutted’ paper to the customer service desk. This is stealing, because you are taking from someone else who is willing to pony up for a paper! GRRRR!
dawn says
I have gotten in the habit of checking the paper before I purchase as well. I have been burned before. At our Fred Meyer, the papers are near the customer service desk and yet they are always a mess from people stealing the ads. Really it is pathetic.
Elise says
I agree it is disgusting if people are stealing coupons out of the paper!! However, I noticed that the same inserts were missing out of ALL of the papers at the Dollar Store (or Albertsons, etc). That seemed odd to me, so I contacted the local paper (The Everett Herald). I was informed that many times the papers that are available at the stores don’t include all (or some) of the coupon inserts!! The rep told me that they have to “purchase” the inserts and sometime they don’t have enough to go in all their papers. Say, they purchased 47,000 copies of the inserts and printed 60,000 copies of the paper. They “short change” the papers at the stores. The only papers that are guaranteed to have all the inserts are the home deliveries. I wish all the papers had all the inserts, but I feel so much better knowing this information than thinking people are stealing inserts! It’s quite possible stealing is still occurring, but I think this explains A LOT of it.
michelle says
Everytime i try to buy extra papers for doublers at albies they are always taken out of the paper….good suggestions on finding extra coupons, will have to try some of these 🙂 I also find recycling centers are great and all I have found don’t mind it.
What do stores do with the papers that don’t sell?? Wondering if Monday morning would be a good time to get them?
Thank you
jessica says
Be careful at the kennewick albertsons, they said they were having problems there with stealing papers and ads (even from behind the desk!!!). I know at both dollar stores in kennewick they are having problems as well…couponing is getting harder for those that play the game right because there are so many people abusing the system!!!
Tracie says
Thank you so much for putting this out here. It seems like a no brainer but I have been burned several times as well. I once bought 10 Wednesday papers just for the doublers and ALL of the Albertsons ads were gone from every single paper. It was clear what had happened since no other grocery ad was missing. It’s a waste of time and money to buy papers that don’t have what we are looking for. At this point I always purchase my papers from a store not a kiosk, and before I purchase them I go through each one to make sure it has what is expected.
Denise says
I have wondered where people get the inserts & coupons that they “sell” for a “service” on the internet since it really is illegal to sell coupons. People could be stealing them for that reason. Asking your soccer team & family for their coupons is also a good idea for multiples. 🙂