Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
According to a Fox 13 News report from Tampa, FL, residents that are currently receiving the RedPlum coupon inserts in their local newspaper will no longer be getting those inserts beginning this Sunday, June 1st. The newspapers being affected are the Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Lakeland Ledger, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Citrus County Chronicle and the Bradenton Herald. What has caused RedPlum to pull their inserts from these markets?
According to the Fox 13 report, It seems that suspicion of a ‘coupon black market' has caused the publisher to pull back from including their inserts in this area's newspapers. The sale or transfer of coupons is a violation of virtually all manufacturers' coupon redemption policies and constitutes fraud.
Although this strikes a blow to those who buy several newspapers each week just for the coupons, residents aren't being left high and dry. The insert will be available by mail. At the time of this writing, the SmartSouce inserts will still be included in the newspapers.
Here's some speculation of my own…
RedPlum has a solid network of distribution of mid-week advertisements (which usually include a few restaurant coupons and ads for mattress stores and DirecTV) through the mail in many markets. Could a broader distribution of RedPlums's manufacturer coupon insert distributed through this mailbox network have been the play all along – and that a ‘coupon black market' was an ‘out' to dump Tampa newspapers? Was the problem really that bad that Tampa newspapers couldn't solve it even at the risk of losing this major ad account? Tampa Bay is one of the hottest couponing cities in the country.
Is this a sign of things to come? Will more newspapers soon be affected? Will SmartSource follow suit?
Check this link to see where your RedPlum insert will be delivered.
That being said, let's hear your thoughts. Please comment below.
– How would you be affected if this happened in your area?
– Would this change the number of newspapers that you get each Sunday?
– If you lost the coupons provided by RedPlum, how much do you think it would change your grocery budget?
