13 September 2009

Coupons are clipped by affluent people, not the poor

* More affluent consumers ($70k+) are considered super heavy coupon2 users (39 percent compared to 35 percent for total U.S. households) and coupon enthusiasts (42 percent compared to 35 percent for total U.S. households.)

* Those likely to be low or non-coupon users: low-income, 1-member households, male-only head of households, African-Americans and Hispanic consumers, residents in rural and struggling urban areas.

Data from Nielsen, via The Consumerist and Time.

6 comments:

  1. I'm going to say it is because of leisure time; rich people have the time to clip, poor people, not so much.

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  2. As a person of low income, I can explain this phenomenon: coupons are intended to get you to buy, try and like a name brand product, which are almost always higher priced than the generic brand (except for that initial 5% "savings").

    Maybe the better question would have been: Who's the more careful shopper and creative cook/homemaker? Who's better able to 'make do'?

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  3. I agree with Marlys. When we had a very limited budget, I found that the store brand was almost always much cheaper than the name brand with coupon.

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  4. Agree with Marlys and Barbwire. Store brands are as good for most products and most of the coupons I see in places such as the Sunday paper are for things I don't need or can't use.

    And recently, coupons seem to be good only for about a month -- I remember when they did not expire for 6 months to a year.

    CCL

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  5. You don't get rich by being cheap. You stay rich by being cheap.

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  6. I almost never clip coupons as they are for crap items I never can afford to buy or just items I would never use.

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