Business Opportunities Weblog

June 18, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Journal Sentinel:

Coupon queen Susan Samtur racked up another supermarket victory at Sendik’s Food Market: $135.69 worth of groceries for $15.98, including sales tax of $3.15 on the original total.

The New York-based coupon pro is on a U.S. tour, leaving a trail of good advice for shoppers and register tapes with as many minuses as pluses.

For Samtur and her husband, Stephen, both former teachers, coupons are a business, and the tour is a publicity effort to boost sales. Susan Samtur, 64, started writing about coupons in 1973. She has published several advice books and a bimonthly magazine Refundle Bundle.

How did she manage to buy a cartful of groceries for 90% off? By choosing carefully and using a lot of high-value refund coupons, in addition to ones clipped from newspapers and magazines. A lot of items were on sale, and they turned out to be free with the coupon.

The recession has presented the Samturs with an opportunity to drum up sales for their products, Stephen Samtur said. His wife’s new book, “How to Save in a Digital Age,” will be published soon.

They also hope that renewed consumer interest in coupons will help them to sell more of them on their Web site. The Samturs sell coupons to subscribers who pay $4.95 per month for $25 worth of coupons. They buy the coupons from people who clip them out and sell them for 5% of the face value.

Photo by Journal Sentinel.

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Tags: Economy, Food, Saving