Coupons

When Daily News staff writers Peggy Higgins (pro) and Carol Towarnicky (con) faced off on the subject of coupons, we asked for your comments. You responded and the answer was loud and clear: You like them, you love them, you can't get enough of them. They save you money, they give you something to do, you have a system. And anyone who is against them is lazy or foolish or rich . . . These are excerpts from some of the responses: A GREAT FEELING Coupons, if used judiciously, can put a saving into your budget.

Baseball fans are a forgiving sort, especially when they're driving in rainy rush-hour traffic from Newtown and Wilmington to Veterans Stadium to get free tickets to a Phillies game. That's what happened yesterday. From the sunny morning to the windy midday to the rainy twilight, fans trickled to the Phillies' ticket window to redeem coupons for as many as four tickets to the April 19 game against the Montreal Expos. The free-ticket coupons, which appeared in yesterday's and today's Inquirer and can be redeemed right up until game time, are the Phillies' way of making amends to the fans for the inconvenience caused by the 32-day lockout that delayed spring training.

When US Airways announced last month that it would start charging $100 for passengers to fly standby, it meant new revenue from a common practice - flying standby - that formerly produced none. To further that policy, the airline this month began selling $100 coupons that expedite flying standby. The coupons "can be purchased in advance and allow customers using nonrefundable fares additional flexibility in their travels," US Airways said in a release that tried to put a positive spin on the new process.

Location, location, location - it's important in the grocery business, too, with colorful produce drawing customers in and dairy items pulling them to the back of the store. But the trip through the supermarket can be long and winding, and customers skip aisles because they think they don't need toothpaste or cereal. New research, using the latest technology, finds that the proper use of mobile coupons could significantly pump up unplanned grocery spending, getting shoppers to buy beyond their lists.

If you're the supermarket shopper in your family, you may have noticed a book of $1 coupons next to the cash register that say, "Check Out Hunger in our Neighborhood. " The coupons - distributed by the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank - allow shoppers to add $1 to their grocery bill to help feed Philadelphians who can't afford to feed themselves. And there are many, according to Kevin Fagin, director of development for the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, who supplied these figures: 500,000 people in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties live in poverty and frequently go hungry.

A Philadelphia woman was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $6,000 yesterday for taking part in one of the largest supermarket coupon-redemption scams in state history. Dorothea Joyce, 59, of the 5800 block of Frankford Avenue, was one of five people sentenced yesterday for participating in a what prosecutors say was a well-organized scheme to collect millions of discount coupons and sell them to store owners for 40 cents on the dollar. Twenty-one people have pleaded guilty so far, and all face sentencing.

No one seemed more surprised than representatives of the AMI marketing company when the Woodbury Homesteader Restaurant abruptly closed its doors late last month during a sales promotion that generated about 500 new customers. Clifford Walker, manager of the Mount Laurel company, said his firm was contracted by the restaurant owner about two weeks before Thanksgiving to sell discount coupons for $19.99. The coupons would allow the buyer to purchase 10 dinners and 10 lunches. The coupons also offered a 20 percent discount for groups.

Federal prosecutors have charged 21 Philadelphia-area residents with conspiring to defraud grocery manufacturers of more than $3 million by illegally redeeming cents-off coupons for products that were never purchased. Among those named in a 97-count indictment alleging mail fraud, conspiracy and income tax violations were West Chester food consultant Robert A. Joyce, 32, his wife, Edna, 46, and his parents, Robert J., 56, and Dorthea Joyce, 58, of Frankford Avenue near Stevenson Road.

Buying a certificate of deposit or opening a savings account never has been quite like buying laundry detergent or a jar of peanut butter. But Fidelity Bank is trying to change that. Starting Tuesday, the bank will begin running newspaper advertisements pitching its "special values," an assortment of coupons offering cash bonuses and other goodies for customers. For example, the bank will offer a $10 cash payment for new statement savings accounts and $20 in cash for a new money market savings account if either is linked to a checking account.

Robert A. Joyce, admitted mastermind of a $2.5 million cents-off coupon fraud scheme, yesterday was given a five-year prison term, and his father received a two-year sentence for helping him. Two other admitted helpers, Joyce's mother, Dorthea, 58, who is serving a one-year prison sentence, and his wife, Edna, 46, who awaits sentencing, also were in the federal courtroom in Philadelphia to learn the fate of Joyce, 33, and his father, Robert J....

NEW YORK - Pet food isn't cheap. Americans are expected to spend $21.3 billion on pet food this year, up 3 percent from $20.6 billion in 2012, according to the American Pet Products Association. Walk through any pet shop and you can see why. Store shelves are stocked with high-end meals, from organic cat food to frozen raw dog food. While pricier options might have less filler and more protein, and can be healthier, they are not always necessary, says Liz Hanson, a veterinarian at Corona Del Mar Animal Hospital in Newport Beach, Calif.

NOT MANY PEOPLE can go shopping and emerge from the store with a cart full of goods having either spent only a few cents or with the store actually owing them money. Marge McDermott could. At least, that was the story she told. She was a fanatic coupon-clipper, and by the time she finished delivering her coupons to the cashiers, her bill was negligible, or nonexistent. And Marge loved it. She enjoyed shopping so much that she was at two stores in Port Richmond the day before she died Saturday at age 92. She lived in Fishtown.

Location, location, location - it's important in the grocery business, too, with colorful produce drawing customers in and dairy items pulling them to the back of the store. But the trip through the supermarket can be long and winding, and customers skip aisles because they think they don't need toothpaste or cereal. New research, using the latest technology, finds that the proper use of mobile coupons could significantly pump up unplanned grocery spending, getting shoppers to buy beyond their lists.

T ED MANN, 35, of Haddonfield, is founder and CEO of start-up SnipSnap, which has four employees and operates from an old industrial building on 8th Street near Callowhill, just north of Chinatown. With financial backers including Sixers co-owner Michael Rubin, a mobile app was launched in May. It lets people clip and use coupons on their iPhones. Mann, a Penn grad, has raised $1 million for his company. Q: So how did you come up with the idea for SnipSnap? A: I was working for Gannett in Web and mobile strategy and got enamored of mobile coupons.

Just as I was beginning to feel caught up on paperwork after Thanksgiving, the mail dropped through the slot in my front door. The enormous thud actually made me groan. In December, the constant stream is relentless. The key to not feel overwhelmed by paper is to take time to "process" your mail each day. Here are some tips.   Catalogs Take a quick look at each day's arrivals. Recycle as many as possible and set aside only those that you know you will look through. For those you find difficult to discard, remember that many retailers send almost the same one each week, and you can always find what you need online.

William Trost Richards, a Philadelphia landscape painter of some renown during the late 19th century, enjoyed a working situation that few artists today are lucky enough to fall into. A wealthy patron, Philadelphia industrialist and art collector George Whitney, not only subsidized Richards and bought dozens of his oils and watercolors, but he also promoted the work among other collectors. The two were friends who corresponded regularly for about 10 years when Richards was out of the city.

If brand-name prescription medicines cost you as little as generic pills, which would you choose? A few drugmakers are betting that Americans will stick with the name they know. They've begun offering U.S. patients coupons to reduce co-payments on brand-name medicines and compete with new generic versions of the drugs. The medicines include staples in the American medicine cabinet - cholesterol fighter Lipitor, blood thinner Plavix and blood pressure drug Diovan - along with drugs for depression and breast cancer.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 43-year-old veteran of the grocery industry. I am also an associate of one of the premier supermarkets in the country, and I disagree with your response to "Chicago Clipper"! Coupons are a necessary evil and are graciously accepted, but they create work for retailers. It takes countless hours of sorting, logging, filling out forms, mailing and receiving to be reimbursed for the face value of the coupon. This is hardly a benefit to the grocer. The abuse and fraud associated with coupons adds up into millions of dollars.

When Brian and Sharon Squires got into the coupon business more than 20 years ago, Internet shopping didn't exist; neither did TLC's Extreme Couponing and its homage to bargain hunting. Actually, coupons were a rather dull affair, mostly black-and-white clippings from the newspaper, or slightly snazzier versions crammed into envelopes that showed up in the mail. The Squireses - sweethearts since their days at Northeast High School and then at Temple University (Class of '79)

Coupons for drug co-payments are illegal and drive up long-term health-care costs for all, a consumer group and four trade-union health-insurance plans said Wednesday in announcing lawsuits against eight pharmaceutical companies. Drug companies use co-pay coupons to entice patients to stay with higher-cost brand-name drugs and not switch to lower-cost generics. Coupons reduce the consumer's out-of-pocket cost at the pharmacy counter, but the payment process keeps that information from the health insurer, which still pays the previously negotiated price to the drug company.