Courtesy Associated Press
With all the buzz in our daily lives, one begs the question, “who has times to clip coupons and for what – save a dollar on cat food or some off brand detergent?“. Well guys, The Wall Street Journal published a great article with in depth statistics and numbers on the matter of coupons. According to the article, surprisingly a lot of families! More and more Americans are going back to the coupon – mostly due to the American depression we are in. Last year alone the american people have used 3.3 billion coupons a staggering 27% rise since 2008, while online coupon redemption have rose by more than 360 %.
So why is the “Great American Coupon” so popular again?
To answer that question one would have to first find out why have they ever fell out of style. Answer is really common sense – you have to collect a bunch of fliers from your mailbox, read every single one and find items you usually buy, remember to bring those coupons with you at the store when you go shopping and remember to also use them at the cash register. I for one have done all except for remembering to use them at the cash register and only realizing it when I get home and empty my pockets 
. Well not much of what I wrote about has changed nor will it ever change, so then again why did we as a nation increase the use of coupons so dramatically?
Let’s deal with this in the old fashioned way – simple math.
According to Inmar Inc, the largest coupon processing agent in U.S., the average savings per coupon is $1.44.
Now we can argue all day how to calculate the time it takes to clip a coupon but for the sake or this article I will round it up to 1 minute per coupon.
That tells me that if I can save $1.44 per minute that equal to an hourly wage of $86.40.
For majority of Americans lucky enough to have a job nowadays, the daily grind at work only brings them an average of $18.70/hour according to the Department of Labor.
In case that didn’t sink in yet let me say it again – that is $86.40 a hour for a job you can do in your house, on your couch in front of your TV. Better yet, unlike the income you receive for your hard day at work, this one is TAX FREE!
An average American family can easily save $20 a week in groceries using coupons. While that is not a huge amount, it also means $80 a month or $960 a year. Over a lifetime this will add well over $100,000 – even if you account for inflation.
So why are then 90% of coupons thrown away unused? Well is because as humans we fail to threat small amount just like big amounts. If you could save $140 per coupon instead of the average $1.44 then I am positive that there will be no coupon ever thrown away, more over, people will be robbing your mailbox to get your coupon books. But since it is only a matter of cents, we brush it off as not worth it, failing to look at the big picture and how much small amounts add up to.
Click Here for a great book on how organize and make the most out of your grocery coupons and maybe you won’t be like me – returning home with them in my pocket :0!
Lesson to take home – start using coupons, is like making $86.40 an hour and is money that is given to you FREE courtesy of your grocery stores. Realize that the simple rules of mathematics tell you that small amounts when many add up to a large sum.
