Canadian Quick Question: Do You Think Paper Coupons Are A Thing Of The Past?

Other / Canada, Reviews / Canada

My daughter’s school announced in their paper newsletter that they will no longer be offering, well, paper newsletters.  In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, the school has decided the newsletter will only be offered on their website.  My first reaction was “Whaaaat?” and then I quickly decided it was a good idea.  Why not?  It will save a few thousand trees and let’s face it, half the time I end up losing that newsletter and looking at it online, anyway.

This seems to be the trend with all “paper conveniences”.  Bills, flyers, bank statements and now, coupons.  In the last 5 years there has been a huge shift towards coupons you can show on your smart phone.  In fact, most Canadian retailers are expecting the number of mobile coupons to double in 2013.  Which means many new businesses will be offering this feature to “keep up with the times”.

Although I agree it is far more environmentally friendly to use mobile coupons and it will likely take less time to print or cut them out, sort through them, put them in my coupon binder etc., I will still miss them…a lot.  There is something about finding the coupons in a flyer or having them show up in the mail that taps into my primordial need to care for my family.  It’s almost a modern day “hunting and gathering” and somehow that seems to be lost when everything shows up on a phone.

Do you think paper coupons are a thing of the past?  Let us know!

 

 


17 responses to “Canadian Quick Question: Do You Think Paper Coupons Are A Thing Of The Past?”

  1. cdn75 says:

    Nope!

  2. George says:

    I sure hope it will be a thing of the past.

    Coupons on your phone would be so much easier.

    But that said I never actually used any as it is hard to find them in Canada.

  3. jojobean says:

    I think that for some, it would be more convenient, but for people like my father who doesn’t really know how to navigate the internet, it wouldn’t really work for him. And how would they organize the coupons online? Would they be difficult to find and acquire? Also, think about the coupons that stores will put out to encourage the purchase of a certain product….are those coupons going to disappear too? I think this is something that will happen in the future, but for now, I think that there should just be an even split of the two to make both sides happy.

  4. hogama says:

    Gosh, I hope not!

  5. Shannon says:

    I know certain stores wont take printed ones. i think they will make everything digital very soon.

  6. angel_cutie888 says:

    i hope not. that’ll mean we will have to have a data plan which cost money.

  7. Orual says:

    I hope not. I don’t even have a cell phone, and I am still under 30. I don’t need one. That and I think it really will be more hassle when you have 20 coupons to use.

  8. oochie says:

    I agree with Orual, I don’t have cell phone and I am in my 30s. I can’t imagine them getting rid of a whole lot of paper coupons. Not fair to loyal customers who don’t have cells.

  9. kris says:

    maybe it is enviromentally friendly but is buying a cell phone more enviromentally friendly???

    I absolutly hate mobile coupons, why should i have to go pulling out my phone,searching for it etc. I try to avoid pulling it out as much as i can,especially with children around. Screen time for kids = bad so why should they be watching me staring at my phone,pulling it out and living by it on a daily basis? What is that teaching them? So annoying!

  10. S says:

    our main grocery store won’t take internet coupons at all, which drives me nuts! They *only* take manufacturer’s coupons. I only have a basic cell phone, mobile coupons don’t work for me.

  11. saver says:

    hope not, I don’t have a smart phone.

  12. Jason says:

    true phones are not enviro friendly its prob worse with the batteries and what goes on in making them . Also tsaving trees ? Kinda lost on that one dont we keep cutting them down to build new homes and business, corporations, areanas etc. So i hope they dont get rid of them . Took a bit for your kids school to catch up they have been doing that for years down here

  13. Lori says:

    Living in a once prosperous paper mill town, I can tell you that USING PAPER IS NOT KILLING ALL THE TREES!!! Trees are a renewable resource and Canada has a whole lot of trees!! We have so much untouched wilderness even with all the years of making paper. Ever hear of forest management?? IT’S OK TO USE PAPER COUPONS, REALLY!

  14. kerry says:

    i don’t think were there yet.Consider the elderly and many others like myself,who don’t even own a cellphone.

  15. Georgina says:

    No, I don’t think they are a thing of the past. There are still plenty of older people out there that use them as this is what they are used to. It is like money for some people. Besides, as the old and the wise would say, “It is never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.” Therefore you should always have several options to obtain the same result.

  16. sharen says:

    A lot of stores do not take online coupons because of the fraud that is happening with them. As for coupons on your phone stores still need a hard copy to send to companies to get their money back. Manufacturer coupons are all companies will accept because they lose money on online coupons from fraud. Also companies are only accepting there own online companies coupons.So before companies stop making manufacturers coupons they have to do research on what retail stores are accepting and not accepting before they cancel them.Customers want online coupons for convenience but retail stores do not.

  17. Emily says:

    As a person without a smart phone, so I hope not plus you can ‘t have multiple coupons for the same product (so 2 coupons for the same product with the intent to buy more than one item). I like having physical coupons because I control them and I can look at all of them at once while planning my shopping trip.


















  •  




  • RSS Hot Canada Deals

  • Recent Comments

  • Did You Know?

    Smart Canucks is Canada's first Canadian shopping deals blog and has been operating since 2005!



  • Join Mailing List

    Categories

    Pages

    Archives

    Find Deals by Brand!