I don’t like discount coupons or loyalty cards.

Personally, I don’t believe you can consider yourself as “going green” and use coupons to purchase items you might not even need.

Think about the number of trees that are destroyed each year to print coupons.

Why do we need coupons? Why can’t manufacturers sell their product(s) for the lowest possible price and eliminate the expense and waste of printing coupons?

How do retail establishments give you double or triple value for the coupon?

You bet they are making up the difference somewhere else in the store. I am willing to go out on a limb and say, it’s the person who least can afford to pay the premium who is purchasing the inflated-priced items.

Guess what?

The cost of these inflated items could be coming out of our pockets in the form of taxes. If individuals paying the higher prices are using food stamps or another type of welfare program, we are paying for their purchases.

Good and Bad News

Are you really saving money by using your coupons? Probably not. If we quit using coupons, the manufacturers would stop supplying them.

Do your part to save our trees. At least, recycle your unused coupons.

I have mixed feelings regarding loyalty cards.

I tolerate the ones that give you points or a rebate check after your purchase, such as the hardware store, gas station or the office supply store.

Sometimes after a huge grocery chain advertises a discounted price, you are unable to purchase the item for that price without their stupid card. That is absolutely wrong. Just like coupons, it punishes the person least able to pay the higher price.

Have you given thought to the information that is tracked on these cards, such as who might be purchasing that information from the store?

You talk about protecting your privacy.

You might as well be wearing a sign giving everyone your personal information, as well as what you eat, drink, smoke and the medications you use.

Are insurance companies using this information to determine your insurability or the premium you are going to pay?

Sorry.

I forgot our President is correcting all of this with his healthcare reform.

Let’s do two things:

• To protect the environment, stop using discount coupons.

• To protect our personal information, stop shopping at stores with loyalty cards.

If enough of us would take these steps, both would go away.

Mr. Hennessey may be contacted at pmhenn@sbcglobal.net