Carrie at Pocket you Dollars wrote an article about coupon distribution - 4 Reasons Your Newspaper May Have Different Coupons Than Your Neighbor.
Here is just one of the reasons coupon inserts vary by paper :
"Advertisers buy space within XXX number of copies of the newspaper. Their first priority is the home delivered paper, which means you are sure to get the most coupons and advertisements when you have the Sunday paper delivered to your door. After home-delivered papers receive their inserts, the advertiser might have budget left for YYY number of copies to be included in newsstand copies, but YYY number of copies may not be enough for every newsstand issue."
Make sure you read all of Carrie's article. She has lots of great info about the coupon and newspaper industry.
My advise is to look through every paper you buy and check which coupon inserts are them. I know it's not always easy to do, but at least you know what your paying for.
Posts
My husband went to pick up my papers from Sams and he checked them and none had Red Plum in them.
ReplyDeleteMy Aunt has called the PD before about this problem, and they gave her money back for the papers she bought....too bad they couldn't just give her the inserts, but still something back....
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that the problem is more incompetent people at the PD than this just being an issue of being too few advertisers. Here's why: One of my papers that I got at Sams HAD the Red plum in it, the others didn't. Also, I've noticed on a bazillion occasions that my ad inserts or coupon inserts may have more than 1 of what it's supposed to have. So for example, one of the papers I picked up had 3 target ads in it. Another paper had NO target ad in it. This has happened to me with coupon inserts too. Sometimes I will get more than I am supposed to (and feel like I won the coupon lottery!!)
ReplyDelete1. In the past, bundles of comics/ads have shown up on Monday at my parent's house and the better inserts were always included.
ReplyDelete2. I'm constantly finding bundles of the ads/SS inserts Sunday that are delived as the 'free' Journal papers around the St. Louis area. Occasionally, I also find P-D copies, which is a violation of company policies.
3. According to a manager where Journals are printed, one day the Valassis insert(s) suddenly stopped being included in what would be stuffed into the old 'really free' Sunday Journal.
4. While I got home delivery while living in central MO and the inserts, often the Sunday P-D sold at the Columbia, MO Schnucks might have the prior week coupon inserts.
Now while on the subject of Lee Enterprises. Last month the company send out letters to a few hundreds P-D employees that took a buy out. The letter stated the promise of free life time medical insurance was a lie and this group now would be required to pay for the insurance.
I stopped my home delivery because I didn't always get all the inserts and it usually had very few store ads. I complained about it when I canceled but it didn't make any difference. Now they call frequently trying to get me to subscribe again.
ReplyDeleteI work at a grocery store, and occasionally I see people taking coupon inserts out of one paper & putting them in the paper they're buying! I consider this stealing, but management says to ignore it!
ReplyDeleteSince I was a kid, I've walk down the cookie aisle, found packages opened and watched some people eat the cookies. Both opening and eating has scaled back, epecially when one consider what a crazy person might do. However, I suspect there are parents who grab items, gives them to their kids to eat and hide stuff in the store before checking out.
ReplyDeleteThat is EXACTLY what happens! I work for a newspaper and I can't tell you how many people call complaining that they didn't get a certain insert.
ReplyDeleteThe advertisers decide where their inserts get sent (certain zones/zip codes/etc) NOT the newspaper! (Now, I'm not saying that occasionally a newspaper's inserter acts up and one doesn't get inserted...but we're talking about missing an insert every single week). Please don't complain to the newspaper...it's not their fault (believe me...we'd LOVE to have all their advertising). If you don't like it...contact the company directly and tell them you want to receive advertising in your newspaper. They are the ONLY ONES who can help you with that!
Hi All - I love Branid's suggestion of calling the companies directly and telling them you want advertising in your paper.
ReplyDeleteI live in the city. Dierbergs doesn't put an ad in the papers delivered to my zip code. so I've requested it be sent to me by mail. Now, if only the postman will deliver it to me before Friday when the sale is almost over.
I got my papers at QT in St. Charles this week so that I was sure to get all the inserts.. I didn't. I saw two, didn't realize there were three :-( Picked up two more this morning in the City and poof, there were all the coupons.
ReplyDeleteOk - I am back onto my crusade to get my newpapers at the pickup rate *grrrrrr*
ArmyMomx2
I looked at 3 papers at sams. 2 had 2 inserts and the third only had 1. Both my home and work delivered papers had 3. I've often found different store adds between delivered and store bought papers, but this is a first for different coupons.
ReplyDeleteI never get a CVS ad in my delivered paper but I always get a KMart ad, even though both stores are an equal distance away from me. I guess Kmart has a bigger advertising budget.
ReplyDelete