Have you ever been enticed by the fifty-cent-or-larger coupon that arrives either in the mail, newspaper, magazine or annoying flyer that is anonymously placed in your mailbox in the dead of night? I have. I admit to even clipping twenty-five-cent-off coupons, with the optimistic attitude that every little bit helps.
Periodically, in the supermarket, I'll see someone, usually a woman, with a fist-full of coupons. The more-organized woman will have her coupons in a coupon binder, sorted by category. The lesser-organized coupon-clipper will have the coupons in her hand and you will see her stopping constantly, rifling through the tiny papers, looking to see if the brand she wants to buy has a coupon that matches it. Then there is the person such as myself, who routinely clips coupons - as evidenced by the coupon clutter in one corner of my desk - and seldom remembers to take any with me when I actually leave the house to go grocery shopping. From time to time, I'll remember to look through my sheaf of coupons to cull out the expired ones and with each coupon I toss I'll think to myself, "If only I had remembered to use this one!"
Score: Corporation - one, consumer - zero
Corporations make a science of knowing the consumer and these megaliths count on people forgetting to use the coupon or not following the redemption requirements. Some redemption requirements border on the ridiculous and might as well say, "Can only be redeemed by consumer if wearing the color chartreuse and holding an albino ferret in the left hand." Corporations can afford to issue thousands if not millions of coupons because corporate marketing departments know they can count on a small percentage of the coupons actually being redeemed on time, if at all.
Score: Corporation - two, consumer - zero
The issuance of coupons reminds me of the great corporate-rebate game. That is fodder for another blog at another time. The score on that one would be: Corporation: Annihilation, Consumer - extinct.
Cynical and I know it..............
Ancora imparo
