If you are missing coupon inserts, there might be a reason why! Read this comment from a reader below, and if you are missing inserts from your papers that are DELIVERED to your door, this might be why!
This is from reader Terrie:
I just want people to know in Beaumont-Lumberton area some or most good inserts are nor coming in the Chronicle. Today when I went to get mine the storekeeper said they called the Chronicle and they had caught the delivery man selling the inserts..funny though they didn’t fire him and told the store they had no way of keeping track of the inserts once they left the factory, Today he was a little smarter..put 1 insert,the smart source in the Chronicle and the Red Plum in the Beaumont paper. I think we all need to call the Chronicle when this happens or it will never stop.
So, now we have the newspaper carriers stealing the inserts before they get to your driveway and selling them?? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!
There are so many problems with this I am going to try and find a place to start:
1. I am going to take care of myself first. When blogger’s post coupons or inserts that should be in the paper and you don’t get them. MANY PEOPLE ARE MAD AT THE BLOGGER. I swear it is not my fault that you didn’t get it. I had no way of knowing it was regional or that somehow you would not get the insert. It is really upsetting for us when couponing is hard and frustrating for you! I promise! Now we can add another element of why you didn’t get an insert and the street 2 blocks away did.
2. Advertisers PAY to have those inserts delivered to you. Not to be sold on Ebay to someone in NY when you live in TX. They want people in TX to use those coupons for products in TX. Maybe they don’t even carry those products in NY.
3. YOU PAID FOR THOS INSERTS! If it was not for the inserts I would not be getting the paper! If I am not getting my inserts, I won’t be getting YOUR paper.
4. Why we have people who are willing to STEAL to make a few extra dollars is a sad place that we are in. I realize that this is not something new, there have always been people who are dishonest, but couponing has really brought out the worst in people. From knowingly using fraudulent coupons ( you know who you are, with the Nestle’, Dr. Pepper and Oscar Mayer coupon) to stealing peelies and tear pads and trying to push through expired coupons. It makes every honest couponer trying to save a little money for their family look like a thief.
5. I believe that it has come to the point where we need to STOP buying coupons from anywhere. The CIC says it is illegal to do at all. This will stop much of the stealing of coupons if there is not a market for selling them. If a site is selling whole inserts, where are they getting them? Are they stolen from readers like you who paid for them? Are they taken from the unsold papers each week, which is also against the law. Inserts not sold must be destroyed. I am curious to know where people are getting 100’s of inserts and can actually make enough money selling them not having to buy the paper that goes with it.
IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE INSERTS THAT OTHERS IN YOUR AREA ARE. YOU MUST CALL YOUR PAPER!! This is not just for the Houston area but all over the country!! If this is what is happening IT HAS TO STOP. If we are not calling and “bugging” them they will ignore it beacuse it is easier to that than take care of the problem. Plus, newspaper excs. probably don’t coupon or care much about coupons, except that they forget THAT IS WHAT IS SELLING THEIR PAPER!
In Houston call, and if they don’t answer call again. 713-362-7171
Also, email Doug Windsor and let him know: doug.windsor@chron.com
** I apologize for the rant, esp. on a Sunday morning, but this is ENOUGH!
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Wow! I wouldn’t have ever thought that the newspaper delivery man would be stealing the inserts! It makes me wonder as the past two weeks atleast one coupon insert has been missing from all my papers. Last week it was the redplum and the week before it was the smartsource. Its not like one was missing in one paper they were missing from all five of my newspapers. Hmmm I think I’ll be calling my paper if their missing again this week. Thank you for the heads up on this issue Tiffany!
BTW I live in Durango, Colorado and get my coupons from the Denver Post.
Also I thought I would mention if anyone else has problems with the Denver Post here is the contact info email: customercare@denverpost.com
phone: (303) 954-1000
soooo frustating i just email doug because since august they just deliver 1 newspaper {i pay for 2} on top of that i pay for 2 more before the deal expire im still getting just 1 , now what is the use if we pay to get it deliver and because all this mess we still have to go to the store and pay 2 dollars more for each newspaper.
Go Tiffany!!! Thanks for the email and phone number. I have been trying to get through to the Cron with no luck. In my area we get a paper called The Ultimate Woodlands. Well it was coming every Sunday but now it comes Monday sometimes Tuesday and lately not at all!!! I think the courier is selling the coupons out of it or just to lazy to get up Saturday night and deliever them. I would Love to have that Job but can not find out how too. That way I know that all the couponers in my area are getting the paper Sunday morning. I now have another place to email and call and you can bet I will.
Thank you Tiffany & Paul for all you do for the honest LITTLE people out here and we will not give up!
On of the Ultimate curriers have been dumping their papers and not delivering them because they have been dumping them in the dumpster where I work! 100’s of them!
OMG! That makes me really really Mad! Here I come Doug get ready!
This happens frequently when my hubby is trying to do me a favor and pick me up papers while he’s out. He’s too impatient to look for the inserts, so he just grabs a couple from the middle & assumes they’re ok. It’s very frustrating and wasteful.
I too was missing my redplum in all my papers. They might have thought since we were getting so many others that we wouldn’t notice one missing. But I got 3 papers and my mom got one and they were gone from all of them.
Rhonda- we should get together because all that was in my five papers were the red plums!! Argh!
-lilthe drill
I didn’t know that the unsold inserts had to be destroyed. If that is the case, then how is it extreme couponers on that show have arrangements worked out with the local recycling center to have the inserts saved and sent to them? Is this illegal? And I’m only asking this because I’m curious about it.
Yes in many places it is!
How horrible! I always check the papers I buy at the store because I have purchased them before only to find someone has stolen the inserts from them. I never even thought the delivery person would be stealing them as well! How sad.
I always always check my newspapers before I buy them! It makes me mad that people are doing this because we then get the dirty looks at the grocery stores. Very frustrating!
I too live in the Orange area and have been experiencing missing inserts in the chronicle for the past 3 weeks. No problems before that. I buy the chronicle because our local coupons varies from those in the chronicle. If the lady in Lumberton is missing hers as well as mine in Orange then the stealing is obviously higher up the distribution chain then our individual carriers. My local paper has stopped putting coupons in on Sunday now they put then in on different days now.
I have had that happen to me where the inserts are gone if I go to the local gas stations but the bigger stores, I have not had that problem. It’s frustrating.
Thats horrible. I live in a little town and I got a bunch of papers with no inserts when I first started. I asked my sales lady what was up. She said she caught a little guy not more than 8 0r 9. He had taken all the inserts out and put them in one paper and tried to buy it. She said now that he got busted mom just takes him around to the different places and has him just steal 2 or 3 papers worth and hide them. Is that awful or what. poor child will be scared forever. So I always check before I leave the stands with mine.
so in houston we get FREE papers delivered to our driveways. i cant afford to buy papers so i wait until tuesday, and i pick up any left over soggy papers. is this wrong? and they do throw the bundles of newspapers away i have seen them dumped into garbage bins.
You may want ask the homeowners. The probably consider it litter & would love for you to remove them.
We have the same in our neighborhood. When we go for our morning walk we pick up ONLY what our neighbors have thrown in recycle or trash. We can pick 10 – 15 or more. If inserts are still there before the last trash pick up for the week then we’ll ask if we can take the inserts.
Carla, we do the same thing in our neighborhood. The free coupon inserts are thrown in our driveways on Saturday nights. I pick up my own, and then we wait. Our trash day is Thursday. By Wednesday night there are still dozens of the free coupon inserts laying in the road, on the sidewalks, at the end of driveways. What I’ve noticed is that when folks are rolling their trash cans out to the curb on Wednesday night only then do they pick up the freebie coupons and toss them into trash can. SO we walk the neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon or evening and pick up lots of coupon inserts. After they have been sitting in the road/driveway/sidewalk for more than 4 days and 4 nights, they are litter and we are doing a public service!
That’s sad! I knew people were stealing inserts, but I didn’t know they were taking them out before they were even put out to be sold! (I always check papers from different stores to see if they have inserts.) And there was only a SS insert in mine, so I’m kind of bummed. :/
I live in Nederland,right on the outskirts of Beaumont,and Im also part of a huge coupon group in the beaumont area.All the women,including myself,have been experiencing the same thing – but ALL over the triangle.So i dont think its just the newspaper carrier stealing them.That might be the case in some parts of beaumont but one lady emailed the chronicle and they told her that the manufacturers of the inserts dictate what parts of houston and surrounding areas get their coupons.Another member called the chron and they told her she should be getting what everyone else is getting,but she has an actual house subscription.I have been fighting this,along with all of my friends,for MONTHS now.They did this several months back too,if anyone remembers,then started putting in the right amount for a month or two,then went right back to it.I think the ONLY way we will get this taken care of is if EVERY SINGLE PERSON who experiences this calls or emails Houston Chronicle.That way they will realize that its not just a couple carriers who are thieves.Theres no way every single carrier is stealing them,unless they are all in some big “coupon ring”together.Im not saying they arent,but im not saying they are either – theres no proof.When you call,Id threaten to boycott their paper.If they get enough of these calls,they MIGHT actually pay attention and get to the bottom of this!Sorry everyones having to go through this,I know Im losing ALOT of money only having one insert every time!We are paying more for less coupons,its ridiculous!
I, too, have been shorted on coupon inserts. Since late August, I believe, I have only gotten the SS insert and all the others have been missing. At first, I thought maybe the were inadvertently left out….but for this many weeks that’s not what’s happening. I’ve emailed Doug and let him know my thoughts. I think it’s cowardly for the delivery people to steal from those that rely on the coupons each week. The Chronicle should take a stand and remove those people from employment and find people (like couponers) that are willing to make the deliveries honestly.
Thank you Tiffany, and Paul, for all that you do on your blogs. I monitor them daily to help me with my shopping trips…and it helps a lot!!!
PS….I live in Port Neches
I live in Ohio and my local McDonald’s sells our Sunday paper for only $.99, it sells for $1.50 else where. I have purchased my Sunday papers from McDonald’s every Sunday. However a couple of Sunday’s ago, I was missing all inserts from 8 purchased papers. I went into McDonald’s and told them about this and all they told me was that I could have taken them out and had them in my car. So I called our local paper number and the manager of our area was shocked to hear this and told me that he would take care of my missing inserts. One week later and I still have no inserts, call him back and then he said, “well now I know your serious, because you called me back.” He thought I was just making it up because people in my area are stealing the inserts and reporting them missing. So when this does happen to you, your stuck with 8 useless papers. To this day, I still haven’t received my missing inserts, however I check every single paper I purchase just in case.
In my area the SS, RP, P&G, and all circulars come in a plastic sleeve INSIDE the Sunday Paper. There is NO way someone could just take the coupons and leave the other stuff. If they try to steal them they would have to take the entire sleeve.
This is a good idea perhaps other newspapers should consider doing this.
Thats how mine come too…But here if the carrier wanted he could take them because it is not really sealed!
I have a feeling this was what was happening with my moms coupons, she gets her paper delivered, most the time there are no coupons, but I can go to the store down below my apartment or even the one up the road from her house and buy the exact same paper and get coupons…she has changed papers so hopefully that will no longer be an issue…Seriously people stop stealing papers, is a coupon worth your intergirty.
So where do the inserts come from through those sites? I have often wondered.
Ok, I really like WildforWags website, and I use it, so it shocked me when I saw the link to buy coupons on ebay.
Tiffany,
I in no way meant to impliy I was ever mad at you..I follow your blog faithfully. I was just happening too much the last month..and when the store that I buy papers at at ^ am to get one dosen’t have any inserts when I get home I am pretty burned up.I also emailed the paper Last Week and got no reply back from them. Im glad you reached out because I know you and your readers carry enough weight to get something done about it.Thank you.
Oh no Terrie!!! I am so sorry if you thought I was saying that!!!! I was not at all. I should have said that a different way! I am soooo upset that you are not getting your papers and the reason why! I am going to change the way I said that so no one thinks I was talking about your comment!
Also unfortunatly I live far enough out that neither paper delivers.
I just went to visit my Grandma in her nursing home. She is usually in assisted living but got moved last week to the main part as she is needing PT right now. Anyway I always get her paper when she is done with then as she does not coupon since she eats there. Someone took her inserts out of her paper. Last week I must have beat them to it as I got all the inserts but this time they must take them all. Her original section never took any coupons but this one does. I complained for sure. My Gma was upset as well. She saves them for me to help me out. The fact that someone does this at all is wrong. The activities director said non of the staff are suppose to take them as they had a meeting. Well apparantly they did or the delivery man did. Its the same man taht delivers to both sections so either he feels he can take advantage of this section or its the staff. The AD looked through their recycled papers and non of them had the inserts so she said she would talk to the staff and let them know again to not take the inserts. I was pretty upset.
This is my fourth week of calling the Houston Chronicle customer service line and emailing Doug about missing papers and inserts. I paid upfront for 4 newspapers for one year. As of today I have NEVER received 4 papers with inserts yet!! Actually, I told my husband this morning I was going to call tomorrow and request a total refund because I’m tired of having a meltdown every Sunday morning before church over this issue. Customer Service keeps saying no one else is having a problem with missing inserts except for me! I only buy the newspaper for the coupons! Last Sunday morning and today I was standing in my driveway watching the lady deliver the papers, so that eliminates anyone in my neighborhood taking the inserts.
north conroe/willis my dr pepper, dog food and razor pages was gone along with some others,,, glad u hooked me up with the 5 copy deal so im not super mad.. thanks lady
I bought 5 papers today at the 99 cent store on Jones Road in Houston and all were missing the SS insert. They all had the RP. I went back to the rack and checked a few more in different locations of the rack (top, middle, bottom) and all were missing the SS insert. It appears that the SS was never in any of the papers that were delivered to this location. I will be e-mailing and calling the Chronicle.
I work at a local Hastings and get a decent discount on our Sunday papers- so for a while there I was purchasing my Sunday papers from my work. However, this changed recently and I now have to rely on my local Mini-mart. For the past month now our Hastings has been missing the coupon inserts. They aren’t even getting to the store- I know which inserts are supposed to be in the paper because we also get one paper at home (my grandparent’s). It has fully frustrated me and I’ll be writing our newspaper an email this afternoon. I NEVER buy my newspapers without thumbing through them all just to make sure that the inserts are there. Last week we were supposed to have 5 inserts- the newspapers maybe had one each?? That’s if they were lucky.
this is horrible the show really needs to come off the air its resulting in stealing papers and inserts and now it seems stores pull stuff offf the shelves if there is a coupon for it, its getting frustrating
I get home delivery and both RP & SS were in the paper. There was a high value coupon for Osteo-Biflex, so I added that to my list for my Walgreens run. I wanted to purchase another paper for the same q. The first 2 papers I picked up did not have any q’s, the next one did. I purchased that one and gave the other 2 to the cashier and let her know that there were no q’s. She asked if she could go through my paper to check the q’s. Normally I would have been offended but because of people stealing the q’s from other papers I totally understood.
Boy I am boiling! I received both inserts in my delivered newspaper but the SS insert from the three papers that I bought at the Cypress Walmart at 290 and Cypress Rosehill are all missing. I am definitely going to call the Chronicle…….
I also bought the Chronicle from the Cypress Walmart and it never had the SS insert either, got hubby to pick a Chronicle up from Kroger, no SS insert in that one.
SS was missing from Sunday Early Edition @ Walgreens ~ Queenston and Barker Cypress.
At one time I was receiving the Ultimate Fortbend on Saturday morning, but not since Labor Day. I asked the delivery man and his reply was sometimes I run out. I called the Chronicle and I was advised they would pass this on to the appropriate department and I would start receiving them again, but nothing.
Last Sunday someone stole my two sundays paper. I know for a fact cause I saw them in my yard and the next thing i knew they were gone. I called the Houston Chronicle and it took 25 minutes to get a rep on the phone. I told her just cancel my service. I live at the corner and he threws the paper outside my gates where anyone can take them. If he is not gonna do his job right and I have to call to complain and hold for 25 min. Forget it I dont need this hassle. I can go to the store and buy the paper. But that did’nt work either. When I went they were all gone. But there was the La Voz so I took ten. And there must have been a hundread or more. Later I went to the grocery store and the cashiers were taking the La Voz and putting it in there cars. I told my husband, Forget this I m gonna get the rest before there is no more! I got the remaing 15 and can u believe it the cashier was coming back to get them. My husband told her that wasnt fair they took all of them. They told my husnband they were doing a project for school. Yeah right! Then why was the other paper still there that dont have Coupons in it. I felt bad that I took that many, but I decided to share, with my coupons friends. So I dont feel that bad after all!
I have seen with my own eyes people taking stacks of papers out of racks so they can get the inserts,and I have checed on Ebay under my zip code and within 25 miles of my zip just to see how many sellers there are and there at at least 4 coupon sellers in my area,,and there is also a clipping service in my area! I found out about the clipping service on FaceBook but now I cant find them,,I wrote them asking if they were the people taking all these papers in town!!!! Im sure all you guys have the free papers available to you on weds or thurs well these people here just clean these racks…If you want even one you better be there when they get dropped off and even then sometimes you cant them I think the paper guy may get them sometimes too!!
For the past 2 months now, all 3 papers we have delivered to our home have had only the P&G coupon inserts missing from the paper. The stores have them missing too only those. I have called our paper and they delivered – but what is the problem in the first place? Why only those and not others. We are in Davis County Utah.
I get several copies of the Houston Chronicle delivered, and if it’s a great week for coupons (like it was 10/2 when there were 5 or 6 inserts) I will go to the store and buy more papers. I have bought them in the past at 99 Cents Only where they are $1.50 (not 99 cents :)). They used to be on a huge rack when you first walked into the store. The last time I bought them there was probably in August. When I buy papers there I pick a few out, put them on conveyor belt, flip through to make sure coupons are there (they always have been), then purchase. When I went to 99 Cents Only last Sunday 10/2 I didn’t see any papers, didn’t see any rack. I looked around, and finally saw the Chronicle lined up in piles next to each cashier on the counter where they put the purchased items into bags. I was told that the NEW STORE POLICY is that only cashiers can touch the newspapers until they are purchased. So, customer goes through line and pays for paper, then cashier puts the paper into bag and hands it to customer. Guess why? Well, of course it’s because people have been stealing the inserts from the newspapers when they were on the rack! I was really, really surprised. Honestly, I was shocked. Anyway, this new method assures us that the papers are straight from the Chronicle and should therefore (hopefully!) have all the inserts. What is the world coming to…
Thank you for posting this! I get very frustrated when I watch Couponing shows and they use coupon clipping services to buy specific coupons. One lady said she buys coupons from California b/c they are typically higher value due to the higher cost of living.
On a side note…….. We have man in our town the buys things with coupons (free/cheap) and RE-SALES the item to the public at a slightly marked down price (For an item that regular price is $3.00 he would sell it for $2.75). Does anyone know if this is illegal??
In the League City area the Walmart and Kroger’s were both missing the Smartsource today, I then went to the guy in the corner and bought a paper to see if it was missing an insert but it had both! So I went back to Kroger’s and returned the paper I had bought and told her that her papers were missing an insert and that she should let her provider know, she looked at me like I was crazy!!!
Unfortunately this is happening in MI too! I haven”t recieved inserts for 2 weeks I called this morning the paper credited me for last week but said there was a shortage of coupons yesterday I told him that was no excuse thats the only reason I buy the paper/have it delivered and that if it was still like that next week I’d cancel!
Sad but true, this is quite common. There are several independent newspaper sales guys in my area that purposely take (steal) inserts out of papers to give to new subscribers. These guys sit outside gas stations and grocery stores and offer free newspapers. Once you take a newspaper, they try to reel you in by offering to give you free coupon inserts and a newspaper subscription at a low cost.
Those of you that can check the newspaper before you buy it are lucky. I usually buy a newspaper from Chicago (about 150 miles away) and they are sold in a sealed plastic wrapping so I can’t check them before I buy them. 🙁
I witnessed two ladies standing in Walmart, going through each paper to take the inserts out!!! I reported it to management and they took care of it. Amazing, huh?
so I went to the Dollar Tree and luckily they had about 50 papers left and the paper person hadn’t picked them up yet…so I bought 2 however it took me sifting through atleast 10 to find any with inserts!:(
When I lived in Elizabethtown, PA, there were a few times when the Patriot did not have coupons in them. All I had to do was call the customer service and someone would have them delivered to me by the afternoon.
Another great tip if you if you live in an apartment complex is to ask the office if you can put up a flier on the tenants doors and put a coupon drop box by the office for people who want to recycle their coupons.
i live in an area that for so long has a newspaper box and trusted the customer to only take one ppr. It is so sad that now on sunday’s, they have to put the paper INSIDE the store that the box is located at, and the cashier will have to sell the sunday pprs.
I have had ppl steal the inserts from the papers in the machine and leave the pprs. I caught a lady doing this and wrote her license plate number down and called the ppr and reported her. It is so frustrating when I pay for my paper and all the inserts are not there.
In the area I live in, we don’t get all the inserts you guys all say you get. For example, this past sunday I had one SS and one RP. The RP has mostly ads and stuff and will only have 3 or 4 actual cpns in them. I don’t know if this is just regional or if something is going on here.
Either way, it is very frustrating when you don’t get the inserts that you expect.
When you said “I believe that it has come to the point where we need to STOP buying coupons from anywhere. The CIC says it is illegal to do at all. This will stop much of the stealing of coupons if there is not a market for selling them. If a site is selling whole inserts, where are they getting them? ”
Made me think how does Koupon Krazed get their whole coupon inserts to sell in sets of 6, 8, and 10 of each insert? What would be great is if they would just sell us the inserts directly and not have to worry with the newspaper all together. It would make life much easier.
I am in the Houston area and I have been having problems as well with not getting some coupon inserts or ads. I have used their online feature where you report not getting part of your paper and they say they will re-deliver, but this has never worked for me. This week I compared my inserts to a friend that lives in a neighboring suburb of Houston, she received the Dr Pepper free coupon as well as several other pages of coupons in the SS that I did not. I was so upset that I decided to give the Chronicle a call. After being on hold for 10 minutes I finally get a rep that tells me coupons and ads vary based on zip code….he said he would put a note on my account to be sure all ads/coupons are included, but I don’t see how that will do anything. I really didn’t think things could vary that much within the same city, I know the Dr Pepper coupon was regional but I figured if one person in Houston got it in their Chronicle everyone else should as well. Not sure if that is correct or not.