donkies...
Thank you for your interesting question. As you know, manufacturers
issue coupon for a certain price discount on items. When you present
these coupons when shopping, you receive the dollar amount of the
coupon off the price of the item purchased. The stores gather the
coupons, typically once a week, and send them to a clearinghouse where
they are sorted and presented to the manufacturer for payment to the
store that is redeeming the coupon. You will typically see on the
coupon that the manufacturer will redeem for the face value of the
coupon plus anywhere from 5 to 8 cents for handling. This 5 to 8
cents is to help offset the cost of processing the coupon as you can
imagine the process involved to process millions of coupons.
The cash value that is printed on some coupons that is typically 1/100
or 1/20 of a cent is there because some states require that if a
consumer does not wish to redeem the coupon, they are entitled to
redeem it for it's cash value. Since many coupons are issued on a
national basis, manufacturers put the cash value on all the coupons to
cover their liabilities in those states. In the states that require
the cash option, you could collect 100 of the coupons with a cash
value of 1/100 of a cent and send them in to the manufacturer for a
bright, shiny penny. However, the cost of shipping about a pound of
coupons would far outweigh any pament you would receive.
Thank you again for your question. If you need any additional
clarification, please let me know.
Regards,
-THV
Search Strategy:
how coupons work
redeeming coupons
cash value of coupons
References:
Question of the Day
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question426.htm
What's the big deal about coupons?
http://googolplex.cuna.org/5spot/story.html?doc_id=619&sub_id=775
NBC4 Consumer Watch
http://www.nbc4.com/answerstoaskliz2002/1448491/detail.html
Frequently Asked Questions About Manufacturer Consumer Promotion
Offers
http://www.siteforsavings.com/content_mas/frequently_asked_questions.htm
Promotion Marketing Association Coupon Council
http://www.couponmonth.com/pages/home.htm |
