As we begin a new year, time-tested methods of getting printed coupons into the hands of shoppers are rapidly changing, as both official and unauthorized coupon insert delivery systems are coming under pressure – and, in some cases, calling it quits.
Two big-city newspapers are ending their printed editions, leaving many Sunday newspaper subscribers without their home-delivered coupon inserts. And many who opt to buy their coupons online are out of luck, too, with more online coupon resellers ending their coupon-clipping businesses.
First, to the coupon clippers. Several sellers who offered coupon inserts or individual coupons for sale online have been closing up shop in recent years. At least two more have now done the same.
“All good things must come to an end,” Klip2Save co-owner Tim Helton told Coupons in the News. After publishing previews of the coupons expected to be offered from the January 4th edition of Save, the site was instead abruptly retired.
“After seeing the new coupons for 2026, we decided to just pull the plug,” Helton said. “It was nothing climactic, long anticipated, and all about supply.” With the SmartSource inserts having been discontinued, and Save now publishing roughly once a month, many sellers have found that supply and demand alike are far from what they used to be, back when there were multiple weekly inserts throughout the year. After 14 years in business, Helton is moving on. “We’ll miss it and our customers,” he said.
The site Sunday Coupon Inserts never got as far as previewing the January 4th coupons. Instead, the site went dormant last month, before posting an update last week. “After 15 wonderful years helping families stretch every dollar, Sunday Coupon Inserts has officially closed,” a notice on the site now reads, without elaborating about what led to the shutdown.
The closures may come as bad news for the sites’ customers, but good news to the industry, which has long discouraged the sale of coupons online. Many sellers have been known to steal the inserts they offer, and several sellers over the years have been criminally charged with doing so. Klip2Save insisted that “we purchase newspapers from authorized resellers and then do all of the hard work of clipping and organizing the included coupons.” And Sunday Coupon Inserts’ owner once explained to Coupons in the News that “we purchase the entire newspaper from an authorized source, remove the coupon inserts, distribute those inserts to our customers after the date of publication, and then responsibly recycle the newspaper,” adding that “it is not illegal, unlawful, or fraudulent to operate a coupon clipping business as long as the newspapers that the coupon inserts are derived from are purchased in an authorized manner.”
In an increasing number of cities, though, buying Sunday newspapers for the coupon inserts inside is no longer an option.
Effective January 1st, Atlanta became the largest U.S. city without a printed daily newspaper, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shut down its printing presses and went digital-only. And this past week, the publishers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced that they will cease operations altogether effective this coming May, after losing hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.
The Atlanta paper is pitching its change as an investment in the future of local journalism, while the Pittsburgh paper is portraying its decision as the unfortunate consequence of a years-long decline in readership and advertising revenue – one that Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism recently calculated has caused 136 newspapers to close over the past year, adding to the nearly 3,500 lost over the past two decades.
That leaves many more onetime Sunday newspaper subscribers needing to get their coupon inserts another way. And the publisher of the Save insert isn’t letting the decline of newspapers lead to a decline in its distribution, or its determination to continue the format.
It was nearly two decades ago when the publisher of what was then RedPlum began the migration of millions of its coupon inserts from local newspapers to delivery by mail. It’s “much more convenient” for recipients, the company’s then-CEO said, predicting that, over time, direct mail “will probably be a replacement to newspapers.”
Today, millions of Save free-standing inserts (FSIs) are delivered via direct mail, but millions more are still delivered via newspapers. Publisher RR Donnelley says the decision to diversify decades ago proved prescient.
“Many years ago, we recognized the need to reach consumers with our print FSI through newspapers and the mailbox,” Debbie Gauthier, Executive Director, Product Team at RRD told Coupons in the News. “As consumers look for savings from multiple sources, our distribution of the Save FSI blends our proprietary direct mail with a combination of paid and free newspaper publications to ensure consistency in retailer and consumer coverage.” And with many newspapers ending their printed editions or closing altogether, “this approach has served us well.”
So insert sellers may be finding that demand for paper coupons has declined, while news publishers are finding that demand for printed newspapers is down as well. But hundreds of millions of paper coupons are still used each year. So digital-only discounts may be the future – but with shoppers looking to save money however they can, it seems that future isn’t here just yet.
Image source: Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
It’s about time all these corrupt, lying insert sellers moved on to more honest work. It’s really rich how they frame it as “helping families” and “buying the entire newspapers and pulling out the coupons”. The evidence would suggest otherwise, as investigations have proven time and again that insiders at these newspaper companies were diverting pallets of inserts to the sellers and getting a cut of the sales proceeds. Everyone is on the take in the illegal insert-selling business. Good luck in your next career to all of them and time to start earning an honest living!