The Life Of A Paper Grocery Coupon

THE LIFE OF A PAPER GROCERY COUPON Coupons are ubiquitous. Whether they appear as an insert in your Sunday paper, a glossy circular, or stuffed with bills and magazines, their presence in your mail is practically the norm. But, how did they get there? Take a look at the surprisingly long journey of a paper grocery coupon, and the stages it goes through on its way. 4444 A Green Start The life of a paper coupon begins like any other paper goods product, at the trunk of a tree. That is, of course, after manufacturers have studied the market and determined the type of coupons they plan to release. 13.62 million trees are used each year to print coupons. Factory Ties The materials are shipped to the paper mill. Here, a coupon may not yet have a heartbeat, but its life cycle is beginning. PAPER MILL 227 million reams of paper are used to print coupons, which breaks down to 113.5 billion sheets of paper a year. Inked The freshly made paper is transported to the printer, and coupons are officially born. PRINTER 10¢ OFF! 332 billion coupons were printed in 2010. That is 21 billion more than in 2009. newspapers All Steamed Up The coupons are shipped to thousands of newspaper plants to be inserted into newspapers or printed in circulars, which are automatically mailed to you. 99 percent of coupons inserted into newspapers are never used. The Home Instead, they are immediately recycled, or worse, thrown away. Never-used paper coupons and store circulars can fill 20 train car loads each week. RETAILER The Surviving 1% The one percent of paper coupons that actually elude the doomed fate of their counterparts and make it to the store, help their proud owner save money. The coupons are then used at the store, and after the drawers are balanced, these lucky papers are collected and shipped to a clearinghouse so the store can receive reimbursement. Viva México RETAILER CLEARINGHOUSE IN MEXICO Once the coupons make it to the clearinghouse, located in Mexico, they are weighed and counted. The clearinghouse sorts, scans, and catalogs these coupons and sends them back to the manufacturer's clearinghouse. The Final Stop Once at the manufacturer's clearinghouse, the coupon's journey is nearly complete. Coupons are counted once more, then recycled. MANUFACTURER'S CLEARINGHOUSE 1.135 million trees are used per month to make paper grocery coupons. Central Park could fit nearly 590,100 trees; the amount of trees killed to print coupons each month could then wipe it out twice. SavingStar SOURCES: MARCALSMALLSTEPS.COM SUSTAINABILITY.TUFTS.EDU Grocery eCoupons. Nothing to clip. Nothing to print. www.savingstar.com CENTRALPARKNYC.ORG CONSERVATREE.ORG DB