***I have been debating about posting this because I didn't want to come off as judgemental or leaping to conclusions. But after talking to several others about this, I am not the only one who thinks this way. So here we go. Please let me know your thoughts.***
Mother's Day I went and bought a paper for the first time in a while. I am so behind and so disorganized at the moment, I couldn't even tell you how long it's been.
I always go to the gas station down the street to buy papers, because it's so close and when I didn't have a car I could walk there. While getting my papers, I see this woman going through and grabbing only the coupons and putting the newspapers back on the shelf. She flushed when she saw me and said, "I haven't taken anything from these yet" and points to a stack that she was clearly about to rifle through.
She continues on with what she was doing. I grab two double deals, and then go through my papers and make sure the correct coupons are in them, like I always do. Fool me once.
I could feel her look over at me every time she took coupons out of the other newspapers. Now I'm no detective, but doesn't this seem suspicious to you? I didn't say anything to anyone. I mean what do you say? "Hey are you stealing coupons?" "I think that woman may be stealing." I had no hard evidence. And although I trust my instincts, others who don't know my history with this sort of thing, might think I'm jumping to conclusions. But how would she explain what she was doing?
What tops this off is this gas station is notorious for having coupon thieves. And what initially made me stop buying papers for a while, wasn't because I forgot, but every time I went the papers would be there but no coupons would be in them.
Stealing is stealing is stealing. And if I was younger, I might have done something about it. But then again maybe I wouldn't. What would you have done?
"Couponers" like this give real, hard working, honest couponers a bad name. Since when have people had such a sense of entitlement that they think they can steal? I blame that show Extreme Couponing. One lady said she gets leftovers from her carrier which is illegal and another was straight up taking paper off of people's front porches. Maybe they are using them to sell to coupon sites? Which are becoming illegal. And arent't these people worried about Karma? Yes they may get some free toothpaste and deodorant, but what goes around, comes around. Just saying.
How to get extra inserts WITHOUT breaking the law:
- Ask friends, family, neighbors and co-workers who aren’t couponers if they’ll save their inserts for you.
- Join online coupon forums where members trade their extra coupons with one another.
- Look for or start your own local coupon club and share coupons with other members.
- Sign up for free programs like Box Tops for Education to get notified by email when coupons become available.
- Visit the websites of major brands for printable coupons like BettyCrocker.com, Pillsbury.com, and General Mills.
- Follow your favorite brands on Twitter and Facebook so you’ll be notified when they release special coupons.
- E-mail your favorite companies and tell them how much you love their stuff and ask them about any coupon available. This works great if you mostly buy organic.
- Bookmark the major coupon sites and visit them a few times a month to print your favorites as they’re constantly releasing new printable coupons:
- Coupons.com
- Coupon Network
- RedPlum
- SmartSource
- Also don't forget about e-coupons from sites like iBotta and SavingStar. No printing or clipping necessary!
Make a habit of doing these things and you won’t have to jump in any dirty dumpsters or swipe your neighbor’s paper to save a bundle on your grocery bill!
What do you think? Do you think she was stealing or I was over reacting? What do you think of coupon thieves?
