Reaction to Extreme Couponing Show

Here's my take on the Extreme Couponing show. It's hard for us to judge because much of this is familiar to us and we have all stockpiled. But for someone who has never heard of this type of shopping, it was a shocker. Most people would be turned off by it. Of course there are going to be a few new people who will love it and dive in hoping to score 2,000 boxes of free cereal. Overall, it will do harm because an important principle of our hobby is to fly under the radar. My guess is that this show will be aired via Tivo to grocery chain executives who will immediately put strict limits in place. I'm sorry, but if I were a store owner, that's what I'd do. It's bad for all of us, especially those who live in areas with unlimited double coupons. That will end. None of the people in this show were active refunders in the 1990's when there were 800+ new refunds a month. That died abruptly when  executives realized that people abused the system. They realized it because of tv publicity from the likes of Ellen Biles and Coupon Connie Arvidson. We are in a Golden Age of Coupons right now, but the more people who 'show it off', in the extreme,in front of cameras, the sooner the brakes will be put on.  It won't affect the number of coupons issued (thank goodness) but it will spur grocery store owners and managers to clamp down on people who walk in with a coupon file. This show didn't do anyone any favors. Three of the people featured have blogs or websites and I'm sure they did it to drive traffic. But that is a short-term gain that will ultimately work against us all. Smart shoppers fly under the radar. As to the people donating the items to charity, that means nothing to the grocery store. The store doesn't get a tax deduction for a charitable donation. Ultimately, the store doesn't care what you do with the items as long as you don't go into business selling the items in competition with them. You don't get any gold stars from the store because you donate it. It's still a loss to them one way or the other, if they doubled your coupons. Imagine for a moment that someone broke into your house and took all your cash, but they gave it to a homeless guy. Would it then be okay with you? I'm not saying the people in the show stole from the store, but they cost the store money, for every coupon that was doubled. Giving a big donation to charity is great, but don't expect that to influence how the store looks at couponers, especially extreme couponers. The store is a business, and if you are costing them money instead of making them money, they will figure out a way to slow you down. The people who agreed to be featured are either naive or publicity
hounds. I have no sympathy if they are now crying foul because of how they were portrayed. Couldn't they see that coming, with the word Extreme in the title? They played into the hands of the producers, so my guess is they are a little wiser this morning. Overall, 2 thumbs down to the whole thing.