The Truth About Coupon Stealing

[sharkie]

wow very well said

[sharkie]

I hope everyone continues to support the halt of coupon selling on E-Bay

[newwestcouponer]

The other day I read a post about a woman who was caught at SDM stealing coupons out of product packages...I was happy to hear she was arrested but the sad truth is that not much will probably happen to her as far as consequences...She will probably not even end up with a criminal record...This has been happening everywhere and the criminal justice system does not take it seriously.....

...Really? I don't mean to sound combative but classifying these people as "criminal" hardly does them any good. I'm obviously biased as a criminology student who has it beaten into them the negative aspects of the criminal justice system, but advocating for people to get a criminal record because they took some coupons is highly irresponsible. The women who are in prisons are overwhelmingly poor, marginalized women. Adding the stigma to them of "criminal" colours the rest of their lives. Try getting a respectable job and supporting your children when you're a "criminal." If people are desperate enough to be stealing coupons, diverting them out of the system is the most responsible thing that the criminal justice system could do.

I do agree, however, that the best way to stop people from taking whole tear pads is to stop buying them on eBay. We should never pay for a coupon!

[sharkie]

yes but everyone has tought times, that does does give anyone the right to steal.....if we break the law we should be held accountable...going in to stores and ripping open packages to steal coupons is wrong and the stores and manufactures lose money and we all end up paying for it....

[glowworm2k]

...Really? I don't mean to sound combative but classifying these people as "criminal" hardly does them any good. I'm obviously biased as a criminology student who has it beaten into them the negative aspects of the criminal justice system, but advocating for people to get a criminal record because they took some coupons is highly irresponsible. The women who are in prisons are overwhelmingly poor, marginalized women. Adding the stigma to them of "criminal" colours the rest of their lives. Try getting a respectable job and supporting your children when you're a "criminal." If people are desperate enough to be stealing coupons, diverting them out of the system is the most responsible thing that the criminal justice system could do.

I do agree, however, that the best way to stop people from taking whole tear pads is to stop buying them on eBay. We should never pay for a coupon!

As a fellow criminology student and someone who worked with the poorest of the poor at a homeless shelter for many years, I absolutely agree that criminalizing the poor and marginalized isn't ank kind of an answer to any problem. At the same time, I would hazard a guess that it's not the usual suspect poor people who are stealing tearpads of coupons. Generally speaking, for those who are very, very, very poor and are desperate to feed themselves, etc., they'll just outright steal the food or product they want/need, not go to the work of stealing a coupon that they would then have to list on ebay, sell, collect payment via paypal, and mail out. I would guess that someone stealing coupons is likely not that person who is on the brink of disaster and is instead someone who is opportunistic and looking to make some cash. I may certainly be wrong (I don't know what goes on in anyone's head, including my own some days ), but when I hear the story I think that what the person may need is some counselling and professional help if they are willing to tamper with packaging to get a coupon (if the items were food, the idea that someone would tamper with food for a coupon just makes me sad.) that only has a potential value to them. Maybe a brush with the law can get them hooked up with E.Fry or another resource to provide support, counselling, etc. - often, for first-timers, they'll get given a peace bond to uphold the law and sent to StopLift (an E.Fry program) or something similar. It's not always the case for sure, but I have seen conflicts with the law provide help not just harm (although I'm definitely not a supporter of the cjs as it is). Sorry that I'm rambling a bit in my response, but I think this person's more likely someone running a bit of a scam than desperately poor - the story just gives me that feeling.

If it is the person I'm thinking about, stopping the selling of these coupons (removing the market) should help to put a stop to the behaviour.

[masid]

People SELL coupons? I had no idea. That's insane. That is WAY too much trouble. The point is to save a few bucks.. maybe a lot of bucks if you work it right, but I wont be wasting my time purchasing coupons to make it easier. Unless of course I'm purchasing a box of cereal or something I ALREADY NEED and there's a coupon on the box. YIKES. They're coupons....COUPONS...

[ccmp1974]

Sad thing is Ebay has no shame and will sell coupons as long as it is legal and they are making money. Good lord they are selling the Queens panties to them what is a few coupons??!!!LOL!! Fingers crossed someday it will change.

[sharkie]

Yes E-Bay has no shame....so many of us couponers get cheated out of deals because of this.....it is truly sad and disgusting that it is allowed

[Tabby40]

I agree with everyone that they should not be allowed to sell on ebay however, i do not see a difference between selling on ebay for money or "trading" for giftcards and FPC's. I think that maybe we should try cleaning up some of our trading practices here if we are going to continue to bash ebay. I do not buy coupons from ebay but I have paid for lots of coupons here trading, and was extremely happy doing it.
I would miss out on alot of coupons if it weren't for being able to do big trades for GC's
As some people have mentioned there are lots of SCer's selling on ebay and they sell here to just giving it a different name. People know lots of traders that are taking lots of coupons and whole tearpads with the intent to trade for only GC's and free products, why is this ok here but selling on ebay is wrong?
I do not mean to offend anyone with my comment.

[sharkie]

I do not agree with anyone taking entire tear pads, whether they are a member of here or not.....the people who do this are selfish....I also always been very surprised that this site has allowed selling coupons for gift cards....The original meaning of coupon trading was meant to exchange coupons only between people.....I have seen many posts on here where people have made a mistake on pricematching and they get bashed for it, yet when I go look on the profile of the person bashing they have a ton of coupons they are willing to sell for gift cards.....People can check if they want but there are several manufactures who think that this counts as selling of their coupons...selling of coupons is illegal in Canada....period....below is a list of manufactures who agree this is selling of coupons....at least the ones I called and there are probably more....

Mars Canada
Scrubbing Bubbles
P&G
Chapmans
Kraft Canada
Kellogs Canada

[thriftygranny]

[

QUOTE=newwestcouponer;4694940]...Really? I don't mean to sound combative but classifying these people as "criminal" hardly does them any good. I'm obviously biased as a criminology student who has it beaten into them the negative aspects of the criminal justice system, but advocating for people to get a criminal record because they took some coupons is highly irresponsible. The women who are in prisons are overwhelmingly poor, marginalized women. Adding the stigma to them of "criminal" colours the rest of their lives. Try getting a respectable job and supporting your children when you're a "criminal." If people are desperate enough to be stealing coupons, diverting them out of the system is the most responsible thing that the criminal justice system could do.

I am completely missing the point you are trying to make.Is it that labelling these people as criminal bothers you? What do you call people that profit from being dishonest and greedy. I think that you could give them any name and it wouldn't change who they are, it's called integrity and either you have it or you don't . If you have time to collect coupons and sell them on E-Bay than you have time to get a job.

[sharkie]

well said thriftygranny

[iceblueraven]

[

What do you call people that profit from being dishonest and greedy.

Government.

[Darth Penguin]

I jsut saw some-one taking the Stanley Cup collector cards out a box of Molson Ex....

[sharkie]

people are so unreal these day.....that is terrible