Safeway To Stop Accepting Paper Coupons in March?

Janelle writes:

The cashier at Safeway told me something today, and you’re the only one I know that might have an answer. He said that manufacturer’s are going to be moving away from paper coupons starting this next year because of the money the lose from those who copy, cheat, etc. Is that true? He also mentioned that, starting sometime in March, Safeway will no longer accept paper coupons…I assume he was correct on that since he works there. But have you heard about the no more coupon thing?

Ah, the old “such-and-such store is no longer going to accept paper coupons” rumor. Frankly, while I know this is bound to happen in the future, rumors like this have flown wildly for the past couple of years and none of them have ever materialized.  I have no reason to think that Safeway is going to stop accepting paper coupons in March or any other set time.  It might happen, but I doubt it.

While it does seem that paper coupons are slowing down some (moreso in terms of lower values than fewer actual coupons), it seems to me that either printable or newspaper insert coupons are major forms of marketing for manufacturers and since no one seems to have implement a digital coupon system that is a smashing success, I personally don’t think we’ll see paper coupons going away any time soon.

What we have seen, and might continue to see, is stores tightening their coupon acceptance policies to prevent fraud and excessive use.  There has been a lot of that in the past year and a half or so, but it seems that for now, most large chains have made the changes they are going to make and any further changes are being implemented store-by-store, at the manager’s discretion.

By the way, the only digital coupon I regularly use is Safeway’s Just for U program, so if you haven’t already, be sure to read all the details here.