Sneaky P&G -- Where's That $3 Tide Coupon?

It appears Procter & Gamble is at it again, trying to force change where no change is needed. Many have noticed that instead of an actual $3 Tide coupon in last Sunday's P&G insert, there were instructions to print it from their website. I have no inside information, but here's my guess at what's going on. The P&G long term goal may be to get rid of the Sunday monthly paper coupon insert by training everyone to go to their website to print coupons instead. They are tempting you with a very high value $3 Tide coupon to motivate you to register for their website, then get you used to printing coupons there instead of cutting them from the paper. This saves P&G the cost of printing & delivering the newspaper insert, and forces you, the consumer, to use your ink and printer to get what you used to get from the newspaper. I predict that we will see more offers every month to print high value coupons from their website instead of cutting them from the newspaper. It's kind of obvious that they are luring you to their website instead of giving you what you want in hand. The thinking probably is that the newspaper is 'old school' and it's time everyone got what they need online, especially since many newspapers are dying and fewer and fewer people subscribe to a newspaper.  BUT.... many people have a terrible time printing coupons at home, and getting them accepted in-store, and they don't appreciate being forced into this. 

Many of us who have been at this for a long time remember years ago when P&G experimented with eliminating coupons from some regions (I think it was New York if I remember correctly). The outcry forced them to back off, and there was some legal action involved.  Soooo.... call and complain, loudly.