Thursday, January 12, 2012
Hands up and step away from the coupon
No, seriously, I meant to say coupon. It seems that coupon counterfeiting is becoming a big business. For example, this article in the Houston Chronicle detailed how four cashiers scammed a Kroger's owned store out of nearly $70,000 by using the coupon override key. Worse still, the increasingly tech savvy criminal class has realized just how many dollars are at stake in coupon discounted transactions in America every day. But don't worry about being taken in. The Coupon Information Corporation (yes there really is one) maintains a database that puts out up to the minute lists of counterfeit coupons. Sadly, you must now make time everyday to check the CIC list lest you hear: "FBI! Dropped the twenty five cents of two and step away from the cash register!"
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2 comments:
The supermarket where I shop in upstate NY had to stop taking Internet coupons years ago because of the counterfeiting, and I've had scans of good paper coupons emailed to me by well-meaning friends.
What they don't realize is the company offering the coupons have budgeted a certain amount of money to pay the face value of the coupons they've issued, plus handling fees to the markets that receive them. When extra coupons are in circulation the company can end up paying out a lot more money than they budgeted.
I know some people don't care, but it's still stealing.
And if the issuer denies the reimbursement, the grocer (who is not well equipped to determine if coupons are valid) takes the hit. Which means you and I pay more.
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