"coupons" news and stories

Have you broken your New Year's resolution yet? Dove wants to know what you've been promising yourself. And they're asking you to Tweet back to win a coupon for a free Silky Smooth Chocolate Singles Bar. (Doesn't that sound like a downtown joint where chocolate lovers hook up?) Twitter members can win one of the 2,011 prizes from Dove by sending a reply to the @Dove_Chocolate "Giveaway" Tweet with your New Year's resolution and include the hashtag "#DOVE2011Promises." The giveaway runs through January 31.

We're wondering if Dove will still give you a chocolate bar if you say your resolution is to give up chocolate.

At first glance, it hardly seems like Joanie Dener, an attractive, 27-year-old suburban mom from California belongs among the likes of those who populate cable TV's 24-hour freak-fest of bizarre human behavior (animal hoarders, toddlers in tiaras, Snooki, etc.).

Then you see her rifling through a dumpster searching for, of all things, coupons...with her toddler in tow.

Welcome to the world of Extreme Couponing, which debuted last night on Discovery's TLC channel. In the premiere episode, just as you're trying to wrap your mind around not only the fact that "coupon" can be a verb, a bona fide activity, but that it can be "extreme" (on par with heli-skiing and class V whitewater kayaking?), here comes a view of Dener in her garage, which looks kind of like a family-sized version of Costco.

"I could basically stop grocery shopping and be fine for a year," she says with the same sort of self-satisfied domestic pride with which Martha Stewart might finish off the perfect apple tart.

The fact that Dener's "hobby" ("addiction"?) leads her to collect 500 coupons a week makes it seem unlikely that she'll really stop shopping anytime soon, which of course begs the question: Are you really "saving" any money when you buy more toilet paper than you could ever use in a lifetime? And do you really feel safe by the fact that, like another couponer, Nathan, you have more than a thousand boxes of cereal that is so packed with preservatives that it won't give you food poisoning by the time you use it?

If there's one upside for foodies in this depressing economy, it's the sudden appearance of websites specializing in culinary discounts. Sites like Groupon.com, Livingsocial.com and Restaurant.com offer diners deep savings designed to bring in customers -- and users benefit.

BlackboardEats.com, launched in late 2009, has grown rapidly by following this model, offering customers a free email newsletter and website with deals at top restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. The downside? Diners living outside of those areas were out of luck. Now, though, all you need is a mailbox: A new "Everywhere" edition of BlackboardEats recently launched, specializing in online gourmet food deals discounted 30 percent or more, and everything's delivered to your door.

The system is pretty straightforward: Customers sign up (just an email, name and zip code) and get a newsletter every Wednesday. Users have 24 hours to grab a passcode, then another 48 to use it. Offerings range from artisanal foods to cookware to culinary travel destinations. But are the deals worth the hassle of mail order? So far. Two of the first discounts were for Maine lobster rolls and tails (40 percent off) and Intelligentsia Coffee (30 percent off). A deal for 40 percent off Spiegelau glassware is lined up for next week.

Restaurants are running out of money, which means more of them are trying to lure in new customers with coupons. Even the ritziest eateries are starting to run clippable promos in newspaper circulars, promising free appetizers or two-for-one entrées to any penny-pincher with the sense to cash in on the restaurant's miserable financial fortunes.

I have no beef with coupons, and hope they work to resuscitate some of the restaurants that seem in serious danger of shuttering due to the recession. But, for whatever reason, coupon users tend to be among the most impolite diners. Here then, a guide to using coupons – without making an enemy of your server (which, as outlined in previous columns, is never a wise thing to do).

• Don't create a little coupon shrine on your table. Many coupon-carriers, terrified their server might accidentally charge them full price, make a point of prominently positioning their coupon as soon as they're seated. I've seen coupons folded and set on the edge of the table, propped up by the salt and pepper shakers and balanced on candle holders. All that conveys is cheapness, which is what all servers dread. Try your best to keep your coupon enthusiasm in check.

Flickr, Termin8er

The increased probability of surviving a car crash hasn't persuaded enough South Carolinians to buckle up, so the state's highway patrol has turned to a more reliable incentive: Chick-Fil-A coupons.

This Thanksgiving, the South Carolina Highway Patrol started rewarding free chicken sandwich vouchers to seat-belted drivers in three counties around Charleston. So far, officers have distributed 1200 coupons.

"We're rewarding people for doing the right thing," Lance Corporal Bob Beres explains.

But the coupons aren't reserved for do-gooders. Officers typically size up drivers for seat belt use when they're pulled over for moving violations, which means a South Carolinian caught speeding could end up with points on his license, a hefty fine, increased insurance premiums and a hand-breaded boneless chicken breast on a buttered bun.

Beres told The Greenville News that it's up to the officer whether a driver stopped for drunk driving gets a sandwich.