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Did you get a P&G brandSAVER coupon insert in your newspaper this past weekend?

Many Sunday newspaper readers didn’t, as Procter & Gamble makes another big move aimed at ensuring its monthly coupon booklets make it to their intended recipients – and don’t make it into the hands of resellers.

Several online insert sellers began sounding the alarm last week, after learning that their “suppliers” suddenly found themselves unable to provide their usual supply of brandSAVERs. “Word on the coupon streets is P&G is being pulled in some metro areas of the country,” one seller told her customers. “P&G is being removed from lots of regions, I’m not sure of the true reason,” another said.

Soon, wild theories started emerging. “P&G is pulling inserts because of a coding screwup,” one commenter wrote. “There was a misprint in the P&Gs… they are now being recalled and new ones will be coming out soon,” another said. “They have shredded 7 counties in Virginia so far and took them off the calendar,” another commenter added.

But P&G says that’s not the case. “There were no misprints or recalls associated with this brandSAVER,” P&G spokesperson Victoria Schooler told Coupons in the News. Instead, the coupon inserts vanished for the same reason they went missing from several other newspapers over the past couple of years.

“We are always striving to prevent coupon fraud,” Schooler explained. As a result, “some of our brandSAVERS will be delivered via direct mail rather than through local newspapers. This enables us to have more targeted distribution, and will hopefully also prevent some of the brandSAVER diversion that we’ve seen in the past.”

Diversion is the industry term for what happens when coupon inserts are diverted from their usual distribution channels and end up for sale online instead. According to the agreements in place among coupon insert publishers, their advertisers and those who distribute the inserts to consumers, inserts that are delivered to distribution facilities are supposed to be mailed, delivered to doorsteps or inserted into newspapers.

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They’re not supposed to walk out the back door of the warehouse and be regularly delivered to online entrepreneurs who sell them, as whole inserts or cut up into individual coupons. Many online sellers insist they get their inserts legitimately, by buying multiple copies of the Sunday newspaper. But others are quite open about the fact that they have “suppliers” who claim they’re authorized to take pallets of coupon inserts, still shrink-wrapped, from the distribution facilities so online insert sellers and “coupon clipping services” can sell them and pocket the profits.

All of the major insert publishers deny that this practice is in any way authorized. If it were, why wouldn’t the insert publishers sell their inserts themselves, instead of allowing others to steal them and sell them for their own benefit?

It’s actually theft, and several “suppliers” have been caught red-handed, including a Rhode Island police officer arrested and convicted for breaking into a newspaper distribution facility to steal inserts, two South Carolina men who were convicted of walking into a newspaper distribution facility to steal coupons by the bundle, and a former newspaper employee in Pennsylvania who was convicted of entering a local distribution facility and walking out with stacks of inserts. In all of those cases, the convicted thieves were planning to provide the inserts to online sellers – whose customers would, therefore, be buying stolen property.

All of this is why, in late 2016, P&G made its first move aimed at thwarting the theft and sale of its inserts. Through research and undercover buys, P&G and Valassis (which distributes the brandSAVER inserts along with its own RetailMeNot Everyday inserts) identified many inserts being sold online as originating from distribution facilities in Southern California. So the companies cut them off, declining to deliver P&G inserts to those publications anymore and sending them to local households via mail instead – thereby taking them out of the insert-selling supply chain.

But many sellers adapted and found new “suppliers”, so Valassis and P&G escalated their efforts. Over the next several months, brandSAVER and RetailMeNot Everyday (then known as Redplum) inserts were removed from newspapers in major cities including Los Angeles, Detroit, Phoenix and Atlanta – all of them identified as sources of inserts that were being sold online.

With stolen inserts becoming harder to find, some insert sellers grew frustrated and got out of the business altogether. But plenty of others continued to thrive, so their inserts were obviously coming from somewhere other than the publications that had been cut off.

P&G didn’t say exactly what regions were affected by its latest purge this past weekend. But many sellers have reported a lack of inserts coming from states including Texas, California, Florida, North Carolina and elsewhere.

And yet some sellers have already adjusted to the changes and are offering brandSAVERs for sale just as they were before. So If you still get all the coupon inserts in your Sunday newspaper, don’t be shocked if that changes in the near future – because the fight against coupon insert diversion clearly isn’t over yet.

51 Comments

  1. Im from new Jersey and i buy my newspaper from my local family dollar and they haven’t had p& g in about 6 or more months now …I even called my newspaper distributors and the said i had to complain to the store.

    • Shante – I think your newspaper distributor either lied to you or simply didn’t understand how things work. The stores have nothing to do with who gets coupons in the Sunday papers. If your local newspaper is not getting all the coupon inserts, it is very likely because they were found to be diverting/selling them, and so the coupon distributors (RMN, SS, P&G) cut them off. I would call them back and demand a better answer. Good luck!

  2. I’m in the Los Angeles area and have not received my P&G these last two times. We’ve also had a new delivery person for about 2 months now so I don’t know if this is deliberate.

    • I’m in L.A. as well and did not get my P&G insert in the 11/24 newspaper. None of the papers at my local stores had the insert. I already don’t get the RetailMeNot insert so losing the P&G is a huge blow!

    • I did not receive the P&G inserts for November or December with my Sunday LA Times subscription. I assumed that it was the delivery person but I emailed LA Times and they confirmed they are NO LONGER offering the P&G Brandsaver Inserts. I reached out to P&G Everyday to see if any other local newspapers will be carrying. Although they responded promptly, it was only to tell me how to print coupons (that are usually only good for a day).

  3. I was getting the P&G insert by mail for a few months now but the August edition did not show up. Also, the Retail Me Not package which contains the BrandSaver, their own coupon insert, as well as local ads is put together quite sloppy. I may have 15 of the same pages of AT&T advertising but no insert or no ACE or Tractor Supply ad, or I might just get 4 pages of the insert while my neighbor has a complete insert. I really wonder what the companies would say if they would know that their highly paid advertising is not delivered as intended?
    I am also wondering if the theft now is shifting from the newspaper distribution centers to the distribution centers which deliver to USPS since short after the P&G was missing, a young woman approached me at a store’s checkout and asked if I wanted to buy P&G inserts. She evaded my questioning as to where she got the inserts from.

  4. Anyone experience missing Proctor inserts in the San Francisco Examiner here in San Francisco? We have not had Proctor adds in about 3 weeks now.

  5. I live in Roswell New Mexico we never received RetailMeNot ever not once we also never received the red plum the only thing we got was smartsource and PG. Our PG was pulled and that was the only way I can buy the product for my family of 8. I would always get pissed off looking online at people selling tide coupons or PG inserts. We never once got a Tide coupon in any of her inserts. And I refuse refuse to buy coupons from sellers because what’s the point how am I supposed to save money. I was legitimately fine bills and matchup and we felt a little spoiled because we actually had nice product in our home. We cannot print and it would always really bother me knowing that people are sitting on Stacks and stacks of those coupons and reselling them. I always wondered how it was okay. I had a feeling they were breaking the law because it said they’re not for resale. I’m in some of the biggest couponing groups on Facebook and I’m truly surprised they are just now catching on. And inserts do not just walk out the back door that person was correct I can only assume. So I personally blame the people that sell the damn inserts thank you for screwing that up for me. Thank you for making it so me and my family can’t get are puffs or toothpaste or oral B’s or Oil of Olay thank you Tu all that took those coupons and resold them instead of letting the damn newspaper do it themselves. I hope your prophets were big and worth it but I hope you’re very very happy to that you just destroyed shopping for a lot of the coupon community. Yuri sellers are the ones the take advantage of the whole situation. And I honestly feel if Procter & Gamble were serious about it or the people trying to stop the coupon fraud they would get on those sites and they would find out every single person that’s selling the coupon every single person they put their names out there we’re not stupid. So start taking them down by the masses the people that are selling them the direct Distributors the people that are stealing them and reselling them. Start getting them fines and also please start making your coupons equal and every region and maybe people won’t buy them from the coupon sellers

    • Blessedtree: Your story made me very sad. But you are absolutely right that sellers like Gilberto Ramirez (The_Master_Coupons) have ruined things for so many innocent people who are simply looking to use the coupons correctly to support their families. It’s appalling that he had the nerve to come on this page and troll everyone but, as you see, he’s way too much of a coward to answer the questions I asked him. Newspaper companies also share the blame here. They enable the insert diversion and profit from it by selling the coupon inserts to people like Gilberto. One thought to consider: maybe contact your local newspaper to understand why they are not receiving and distributing coupon inserts in their Sunday edition. Perhaps they can get added to the list. Good luck to you and thanks for sharing your story.

      • Honest Couponer you say
        he’s way too much of a coward to answer the questions I asked him.
        1._What do you have in your mind I will give you name of the news paper. Or warehouse where I get the inserts.
        2._Do you think I’m the only one hahaha in Instagram we are so many people
        3._ I will give you 1 sample
        Seller 1 = 3k
        Seller 2 = 4K
        Seller 3 = 1k
        Seller 4 = 7k
        Seller 5 = 13k
        This is the number of insert of 5 sellers Do I know no counting me + is more people like me so this service help to many family’s people buying regular news paper is $3 here in Los Angeles SO IF COUPONS ARE FREE WHY THEY CHARGE FOR THE NEWSPAPER WHY THEY DONT PAST THE INSERTS FREE people like me we put the hottest coupons in are set for family’s how order are services why P&G or RMN OR SS they don’t make this coupons free because they making a business because they use the news paper. To promote target,cvs, if they take out the coupons from the news paper nobody I will buy the newspaper because is not coupons inside they charging for the coupons
        They charge $3 for News paper
        To get 10 new paper = $30
        But they don’t have RMN they only offer SS SO YOU PUTTING YOUR MONEY YO THE TRASH my service is $22 shipping included AND I OFFER RMN,SS1,SS2 so my service is cheaper then News paper and I’m offering the best service. This block 3 yrs ago took screenshots of my picture and never give me credit they need to talk to a service provider so they understand what we do + most of the times 99 % of the people do fraud using the coupons because now the coupons say use only 2 coupons per day per transaction and people to get points or extra buck they need to use more than 2 coupons but sent me a text or dm and I will give you more information.

        • Gilberto, if you are not a coward, then tell me where you get your inserts. Simple question. Be a man about it. I doubt you will. Because you’re a coward and a fraud.

        • Hey Gilberto — still waiting for a response to my question. Or do you just want to admit you’re a coward and a crook who is receiving and selling stolen merchandise? By the way, did you have any problems getting your drivers to deliver the June brandsavers to you? Didn’t see you selling too many of those on your lame IG account.

    • I soooo agree, and i started couponing just to save and now, look i feel so slighted

  6. I will say this all of us who pay for our papers & use our coupons to SAVE $$ for our families stop buying P&G products just 2 months they will reconsider this move!!! I refuse to pay to buy ink & print coupons I should get for FREE bc of people who are not using them properly ???? sinserly 1 angry customer!!!

    • I am boycotting P&G. I am honest when it comes to coupons. My local paper 50 cents and the P&G is in it on Wednesday’s monthly. I buy approx 10 a month so I can do the CVS deals, I have a local store as witness that I do purchase them. But now, something has happened that they are now in the paper. I suppose the dishonest has ruined it for the rest of us. Only thing I know to do is boycott P&G…

  7. I’m @the_master_Coupons
    1._the inserts don’t walk from the back door of the warehouse inserts aways come out from the main door
    2._Most If the couponer’s the do fraud making multiple transactions.
    3._Because of the resellers people say money in their houses.
    4._People call Suppliers Hahaha NOP REAL NAME FOR THIS PEOPLE ARE DRIVERS NOT A SUPPLIER

    • Hi Gilberto – thanks for commenting. Please do tell us where you get so many Sunday inserts. Which newspapers are selling them to you?

    • As expected, Gilberto (The Master Coupons) is not responding. The reason is that he knows that every time he drives up to a newspaper’s warehouse and loads a pallet of coupon inserts onto his pick-up truck, he is receiving stolen property. So to anyone who buys inserts off of this crook, do so at your own peril!

      • @The_Master_Coupons; You are the piece of s*** people that need to be prosecuted for theft. And where did you get your education? Because I could barely understand one through four!
        Get a life and quit ripping people off. I would never buy a coupon from some dumb a** like you! They are suppose to be free idiot And if you actually get people that buy them from you, well then you found the stupid ones, bravo. I hope karma kicks you in the butt

        • I like what you just said! As far as his education level, it really leaves a lot to be desired. I cannot believe that people brag about selling and stealing coupons! If I want extras, I buy more papers. But, enough about me. I just wanted to say that I agree with you! Have a great day!

      • Well let me tell you something
        1._I will not never going to give my warehouse or where I get the inserts.
        2._i don’t pickup the inserts hahaha you need to get stuff correct they bring the coupons to me
        4._why you assumed is stolen property do you have any evidence.

      • Well let me tell you something
        1._I will not never going to give my warehouse or where I get the inserts.
        2._i don’t pickup the inserts hahaha you need to get stuff correct they bring the coupons to me
        4._why you assumed is stolen property do you have any evidence.

    • @The_Master_Coupons; You are the piece of s*** people that need to be prosecuted for theft. And where did you get your education? Because I could barely understand one through four!
      Get a life and quit ripping people off. I would never buy a coupon from some dumb a** like you! They are suppose to be free idiot And if you actually get people that buy them from you, well then you found the stupid ones, bravo. I hope karma kicks you in the butt

  8. There was no inserts in the Hinesville Ga area and there is a military base here.

  9. Could I please get your insert. I found some advertised they wanted $25 that’s just crazy!!

  10. Guadalupe laura Velasco says:

    Hi, I’d like to get your new discount coupons magazine since they are very helpful to see if you can send me here to Baltimore Maryland thank you

  11. I have not received any p&g in the news paper or mail for awhile and I want to know why. My aunt lives 10 min away from me and they receive them all the time. Why is my side of town not getting them?

  12. I recieved the P&g booklet, but no Tide. What is the reason for that? And I am in the Detroit area. We didn’t get no Retail me not booklet, so I was forced to buy them online.

  13. I also bought 4 papers and no p & g in any of them, I’m in upstate NY!

  14. I need the p&g

    • COUPONS WITH B on Facebook. Brandy Cox and Emily Carmona. They get their inserts from “suppliers” and resell for outrageous prices. Over 2k members and making money off stolen papers.
      They have been reported to the CIC as well as directly to P&G. Screenshots and conversations between multiple group members and B Cox & E Carmona were forwarded to P&G’s coupons fraud investigation department.
      They’ll need more people to buy into their raffles for bail money.

      • Thanks J. But Coupons with B is a pretty small time group compared to The Master Coupons and some of the other major sellers. And by the way, reporting the group to the CIC is kind of like a tree falling in the woods or spittin’ into the wind!

  15. Yo necesito los cupones

  16. We are supposed to get a free paper with inserts delivered each week on our driveways. Whoever throws them out – does the corner houses and then randomly every 4 or 5 houses.. Once ever 2 months – I will be lucky to get one. On weekends where there are no inserts – miraculously every house will get them. Another newspaper coupon started up and are also giving a freebie paper each weekend (yes, I am supposed to get two).. on the plastic wrapper on the outside – it advertises coupons.. The first weekend it arrived – it had the inserts.. every weekend after – there are none in there, despite the advertisements. I have no idea who to call to complain to – for either paper.. I googled around and just couldn’t figure out who to contact. These people are clearly taking the inserts for themselves, or reselling them.. and getting paid to do it. It is so wrong. I would turn them in – in a heartbeat, if I knew who to contact.

  17. One metro Phoenix paper, thecarixona republic, had the P&G insert this week. A free paper by the republic did not have it. Frustrating

  18. I have home delivery of the Sunday newspaper. If P&G decides to remove their inserts and tell me to print them, I will be a lost customer. I refuse to print inserts that should be in my paid for paper. Is P&G refunding ink and paper??

    • Inserts by P&G have been removed entirely from Canada. You now occasionally find a coupon in a magazine, or in an occasional insert…but majority of their coupons now are print coupons.

      It’s unfortunate that people are out there to profit off coupons. Coupons are free. NO ONE should be making a profit reselling coupons that are not supposed to be sold. So go blame those people, not the manufacturer.

      Quite frankly, I’d be glad to see the day of coupons ending entirely.

  19. All newspapers in the Los Angeles region had the P&G BrandSaver yesterday. P&G stopped distribution via snail mail over a year ago in most Southern California areas.

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