Comments on: 5/02 Sunday Coupon Insert Preview

By: John

John — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:47:38 +0000

None in the Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, FL. 5/02 I sent the newspaper an email but never received a reply

By: John

John — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:47:38 +0000

None in the Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, FL. 5/02 I sent the newspaper an email but never received a reply

By: moneysaved4disney

moneysaved4disney — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:10:26 +0000

My p&c came from a charleston gas station and had the SS inserts. I usually buy them at Publix and they have them then too. I will not subscribe b/c I do not need Fri or Sat papers!

By: Cheri

Cheri — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:13:18 +0000

I found the Smart Source in the paper today that I bought at a gas station in Summerville, and a friend of mine said it was in her delivered paper today!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:16:27 +0000

If this is a ploy to get more subscribers….The thing I don't understand is that it seems to me that they would make MORE money off of couponers who buy multiple papers at a newstand than they would a subcriber. If I knew the coupons would be in the paper every time, I would buy multiple copies every week. At $2 a pop, that's only 9 papers that I'd have to buy in a month's time to match the price of the $18 weekend-only subscription.

By: LisaB

LisaB — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:29:37 +0000

I got the AJC and all three inserts.

By: Holly

Holly — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:20:54 +0000

I will help out if I can… these coupons really help out my family! Read my response to Wanda below as to what I saw at the Flowertown Festival. That really had me irritated and I think SmartSource should know about it too!

By: Holly

Holly — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:17:34 +0000

Did anyone notice that at the flowertown festival there were two stands selling subscriptions to the P&C, both stands were advertizing “50% MORE COUPONS” to subscribers?!? The thing that upset me was the fact that I had to subscribe to Friday, Saturday & Sunday for something like $18/month. They won't let you subscribe to just the Sunday paper, so I would be wasting 12 newspapers and paying $10 extra dollars for the “extra Sunday coupons.” So much for the P&C “going green!” I have no doubt that cutting the coupons out of the store newspapers is a marketing scheme, and a tacky one at that! I for one will not be subscribing to the P&C because of this!

By: Holly

Holly — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:12:50 +0000

Did anyone notice that at the flowertown festival there were two stands selling subscriptions to the P&C, both stands were advertizing “50% MORE COUPONS” to subscribers?!? The thing that upset me was the fact that I had to subscribe to Friday, Saturday & Sunday for something like $18/month. They won't let you subscribe to just the Sunday paper, so I would be wasting 12 newspapers and paying $10 extra dollars for one set of exrta Sunday coupons. So much for the P&C “going green!” I have no doubt that cutting the coupons out of the store newspapers is a marketing scheme. I for one will not be subscribing to the P&C because of this!

By: roseluns

roseluns — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:31:18 +0000

Did everyone getting the ajc get a P & G insert???

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:44:50 +0000

P&G doesn't put out an insert every week. You can see when the next one comes out on their web page.

By: lindsay

lindsay — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:37:50 +0000

I live in Gainesville, FL. Yesterday I bought 3 papers…and only had the P&G insert and SS. No Redplum!! I was looking forward to the $4 off Nivea coupon! This was actually the first time I've gotten a PG insert in the last month! Why is it always so inconsistent?!

By: klynch

klynch — Tue, 04 May 2010 00:59:16 +0000

I am in CT. I only got the SS flyer.

By: jennhyatt

jennhyatt — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:42:46 +0000

i'm in the raleigh area and only got two inserts – P&G and RP. Did anyone get SS?

By: AshleyQ

AshleyQ — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:23:32 +0000

I got 3 newspapers, 1 delivered and then I bought one of the 2 for $3 deals. I was going thru and combining my insterts so all coupons are together. For the Lysol No-Hands they all 3 had a different coupon, one each for $3, $4 and $5, how funny, SHM!?!

By: Wanda M

Wanda M — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:35:13 +0000

I will!! The thing that's so “funny” is that some subscribers also didn't get the SS. Something fishy is going on over there at P&C.

By: Mel

Mel — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:07:46 +0000

Hi Wanda,

Thank you for taking the time to call SS. Please keep us all posted on what you find out!

I also called P&C (twice - once left a message and second time call a different number and got through to a real person). The first time I called, I actually told the person what happened and they sent me to a voice mail. The second time I called, I asked a more general question and then was able to get into my actual question and got to speak to a real person. I was also told the vendor (in this case Smart Source) determines what regions get their insert and they don't have any control over it. I then asked how I could determine what regions would get what insert so I could determine where I wanted to buy my paper from. I was told they had no control over that and "sorry we can't offer a better answer". If the vendor dictates to P&C what regions should get the SS insert, wouldn't they have some kind of guide or schedule of where/when to put it into the papers and be able to let us know?

The thing that doesn't make any sense to me is why subscribers got the SS, but not newstands or grocery stores in the same area/region.
At any rate, I'm very curious as to what is going on. Wanda, would you mind updating us?

Thank you!

By: melissa

melissa — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:49:11 +0000

I did too. I got RP and SS but not P&G. From what I hear on these post, a heck of a lot of people got ripped off. I think they need to put the newspaper behind registers or something. I know the insert was in there, someone was greedy and took it out.

By: qponing09

qponing09 — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:24:39 +0000

I figured as much. He's a fast “double” talker. Instead of saying, I'm not sure I'll check on that, he starts speaking in newspaper terms. I brought it to his attention that what he was telling me today is totally different than what he told me a couple of months ago. I just want to get to the bottom of it. He couldn't even tell me what area gets “ALL” the coupons, something about violating the integrity they have with the companies.

If SS is saying everyone's supposed to get a copy of the inserts, refunds need to be issued or the inserts should be sent. This is a mess!

By: jenniferosborne

jenniferosborne — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:41:12 +0000

I have an update about the Birmingham News. I sent an email yesterday asking why the RP and the P&G were missing and basically got this statement back—The advertisers choose what zip code to where they want the ads and coupons distributed. You might get some of the coupons but not all .
So after this response I decided to call for myself. I just got off the phone with P&G. If you go to their website you can enter your zipcode and it will tell you what papers will have the coupon inserts and guess what, B'ham News is one of them. The lady I spoke to at P&G said if it is on the website then the insert should have been in there. I called RP and I am waiting on someone to call me back. I also called the B'ham News and am waiting on someone to call me back about that also. I feel that we were ripped off (those of us that bought papers yesterday)!!

By: Wanda M

Wanda M — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:04:36 +0000

Steve is wrong, I've contacted SmartSource..I have a post above.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:50:58 +0000

Just got a call back from P&C with basically the same information. They said I could file a complaint with News America (http://www.newsamerica.com/default.aspx) who is in charge of deciding who gets what coupons.

By: Wanda M

Wanda M — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:47:51 +0000

HEADS UP! I just got off the phone with the Atlanta Office of SmartSource. They said they send those inserts to P&C and they are SUPPOSED to be inserting them. They have a team that will find out what is going on to why we aren't getting those inserts. I asked him if it could be that only subscribers get them, he assured me that all the papers should have the SS inserts. He will be getting back with me. Forget talking to P&C, let's get the big guns out!

By: qponing09

qponing09 — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:28:23 +0000

FYI to all P&C readers. I spoke with Steve Wagonlander who's in charge of circulation at the P&C. He gave me a long story about how the companies decide which zones they would like to have their coupons distributed to. Due to the economy, they've cut back on quite a few of the coupons being sent to certain zones (this includes the subscribed issues). This same person was willing to send me the inserts I was missing about 2 months ago. Today he stated he only did it as a courtesy but wouldn't be able to do it everytime someone was missing inserts. The last couple of weeks I've purchased papers from Summerville and they've all been missing the SS inserts. I guess the next step is to go to SS to see what can be done. This was a great week for coupons and I feel as though I've been ripped off.

Another thing, the P&C has a paper machine outside their main building in downtown Charleston. You can purchase the paper from there through out the following week. I'm sure that version will have “ALL” of the coupons. Hope that helps all of the P&C readers. It may also be insight for everyone else as it appears to not only be happening to our region. Good luck!

By: veronica

veronica — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:13:53 +0000

Jacksonville fl—No Red Plum–just SS & P&G