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
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. 
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.
