# Collecting cash value for coupons **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708 "2007-11-25T16:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708/1 "2007-11-25T16:24:12Z")
Most coupons have a little disclaimer at the bottom which states “Coupon cash value 1/100 cent”. If I were to collect 100 of these buggers, who would I hit up for a penny? A grocery store? The company that makes the product? The company that creates the coupon books? Who? I’ve done some googling and the only thing that seems to come up is the terms for a company’s coupons that includes that phrase. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708/2 "2007-11-25T17:26:03Z")
That would make sense, since stores are reimbursed by the manufacturer for any [manufacturer’s] coupons their customers use. So, it’s kind of like cutting out the middle man. 🙂 LilShieste ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708/3 "2007-11-25T17:59:01Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=429562&highlight=coupon+cash](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=429562&highlight=coupon+cash) is another thread about this. Also, many coupons say ‘limit one per customer’ which may hinder your plans. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708/4 "2007-11-25T18:00:07Z")
Here is Uncle Cecil’s 16-Jun-1978 column on the topic: > [@](#): > > Dear Cecil: > > Why do grocery store coupons always say “cash value one twentieth of a cent”? Why should anybody care? --Tony W., Phoenix > > Dear Tony: > > Coupons are given a cash value in order to comply with laws in a few states that classify them with trading stamps. As I assume you know, the cost of trading stamps to the merchant is always incorporated into the price of his merchandise. Since you’re paying for them whether you want them or not, some jurisdictions require that the stamps be redeemed in cold cash if the customer so demands. Coupons are a little different than trading stamps, of course, but the law is the law. The cash value is set high enough to be legal, but low enough so that nobody will actually bother to collect the things. > > –CECIL ADAMS ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708/5 "2007-11-25T18:24:09Z")
I tried to redeem a stack of coupons for cash when I was a kid. The store clerk just laughed at me. I wanted my 5 cents! ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-cash-value-for-coupons/427708/6 "2007-11-26T01:51:47Z")
As a young lad I remember my mother visiting laundromats and other places to clip the cents off coupons out of magazines then using them to do the weekly grocery shopping. This was before the manufacturers started requiring that you actually bought their product. If us kids were lucky she would have enough coupons to get some change back and we could get something from the bubble gum machine.