I got a 10% off coupon for a major chain store with my change of address forms.
On the back, in the fine print, it says Cash Value: 1/20th of a cent. I found the SD column about this, and found out why they bothered printing it.
One question remains, though. These things are free at the post office. If I collect 20, will the issuing store, or a bank, give me a cent?
I’m guessing not, but the coupon issuers will. Good luck spending less than a cent collecting it, though. 
Since this is really a question about one of Unca Cece’s columns, let’s move it to CoCC.
samclem gQ moderator
[QUOTE=I’m Ron Burgundy?]
I got a 10% off coupon for a major chain store with my change of address forms.
On the back, in the fine print, it says Cash Value: 1/20th of a cent. I found the SD column about this, and found out why they bothered printing it.
One question remains, though. These things are free at the post office. If I collect 20, will the issuing store, or a bank, give me a cent?
[/QUOTE]
I’m guessing that the store or the coupon issuer would be liable. But 20 of them for a cent? So take two THOUSAND of them and tell them they owe you a dollar. Maybe the manager will hand you a dollar to get you to go away. Maybe not. Maybe a cashier is not as wise as Cecil and will tell you to get lost?
Maybe you can sue them for your dollar in civil court and win! Set a precedent!
See why Cecil is right? The whole thing is not worth yours, mine, or even a drunk, homeless persons time. If you want to prove a point, you’ll probably win, and with your 40 pounds of coupons, maybe you can buy me a beer!
Does the 1/20th of a cent cash value apply across the board?
Here we have details of a theme park voucher offer with a cash value of £0.0001 (1/10,000th of a penny) while this student travel offer can be cashed in at a more generous £0.001 (1/1,000th of a penny). No cash value at all is mentioned here.
Apropos, I assume someone over here looked at the US cash value of 1/20th of a cent (1/40th of a penny) and decided it was far too generous. They consequently pre-empted hordes of marauding shoppers from cashing in at this most rewarding rate by decreasing it by a factor of 250.
One problem with your get rich quick scheme, most coupons also say one coupon per customer. 
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara]
Does the 1/20th of a cent cash value apply across the board?
Here we have details of a theme park voucher offer with a cash value of £0.0001 (1/10,000th of a penny) while this student travel offer can be cashed in at a more generous £0.001 (1/1,000th of a penny). No cash value at all is mentioned here.
Apropos, I assume someone over here looked at the US cash value of 1/20th of a cent (1/40th of a penny) and decided it was far too generous. They consequently pre-empted hordes of marauding shoppers from cashing in at this most rewarding rate by decreasing it by a factor of 250.
[/QUOTE]
I am glad to see this silliness is not a US -only issue, but I do have minor quibbles. IANB, but I think you are off by a couple orders of magnitude. You equate (pound sign) 0.001 with 1/1000th of a penny. I believe that should be either 1/1000th of a pound or 1/10th of a penny. The same with your first example. Now you only need briefcases of the coupons, not truckloads, to get an over-priced pint of ale.
Oh shit.
Thanks for correcting my error.
You’re not the only one to make this mistake.
