 Re: Why are certain topics not discussable on here?
I'll chime in here as one half of the HCW ownership team.
When we started the site, we were frankly very tired of the bum rap couponers got. One site had kicked us all off because managing people who wanted to defraud the system took up TONS of their admin and mod resources. So they simply closed the grocery part of their deal site down.
So, we started the site with the intent that we wanted couponers to not be seen as scammers. We also didn't want to bite the hand that feeds us. I've been couponing since the 1990's and I've seen the deals really change as manufacturers got screwed. When internet printables first hit the scene, there were a rash of fake ones, and I'll admit, I redeemed them like everyone else, because, who knew? It was new technology and I wouldn't have known a fake from a real one cause even the manufacturers were hosting them in PDFs.
The other side of it is, I have also been a manufacturer. I owned a gourmet food packing business for several years and I get how much effort it is to bring a product to market and merchandise it, getting it from raw ingredients to a finished product in someone's hand. And I couldn't abide the thought of burning manufacturers when it was an industry I have worked in for years.
It isn't about just couponers holding their head high and doing the right thing, but it's about Heidi and I being able to say that we respect the integrity of the offers in which the manufacturers make available to us. Burning them for a quick deal is shortsighted for the long-term health of couponing/rebating and in-store promotions. The health of the couponing system relies on those of us who aren't just the occasional clipper doing the right thing to keep the system moving.
With all the new technologies coming down the pipe, I see a day when coupons have a lot more limits, a lot more tracking, and a lot more stringent rules around them because of the people who do deals badly. I'd like to be able to hold the community up to manufacturers and stores as a group that strives to be as ethical as possible. Heidi and I hope to continue doing some of the consulting we've started this year to people in the industry to get them to work with couponers to create better offers and find new ways to reach their audiences.
So, it's not us being "religious" about it, it's us being practical and looking at the future of couponing and trying to be ahead of where the industry is taking us, and hoping that by being good at what we do in coaching coupon ethics, that we can help shape the industry so that couponers continue to get good deals and have a tool that positively shapes the financial outcome of all our personal finances.
Where would any of us be without couponing? Yes, these companies are big and they make money, but they also have a right to be profitable, provide jobs and benefits to their employees, and create promotions that entice new buyers to their products. We benefit that others don't partake in those promotions. But bad couponing shouldn't be the catalyst for getting rid of those promos and deals. And the companies have to stay financially healthy to keep offering them. We contribute by keeping inventories turned on store shelves, offering word of mouth reviews on products, donating into the system and sharing with friends so that others might try those products, and in general, being the retail mavens of brands.
And like others have said - there's always a good deal done right just around the corner. Heidi and I aren't naive enough to think people won't coupon how they want at home, but we ask that those discussions don't mar the work we do try to do in keeping it legit, so we just don't allow them. Asking the questions though is always a good thing - information is power. We're not perfect, and we were new too once at this, but we've come a long way, and hope that our bumps in the road can help others.
Hope that sheds a bit more life on the HCW philosophy about couponing ethically. We're really not trying to be snotty you-know-whats about the whole thing. Just being safe than sorry for the long-term health of the system.
__________________ I AM THE GREAT CORNHOLIO!!! I NEED TP FOR MY BUNGHOLE.....ARE YOU THREATENING ME???  The crazy half of Hotcouponworld The Shopping Cart Economist - my blog about tracking food prices Post Content Copyright 2006-2009 Hotcouponmama @ HCW. Permission to repost is denied.  | 
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Pennysvania Shopper at Giant Eagle,, RiteAid Walgreens, CVS, Target, Kmart, and yes, sometimes Wallyworld - but I better walk out with $300 for $5 to deal with their bologna!!! 
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