Coupons

Want a gigantic mansion but just can't stand paying list price? The owners of a 15,000-square-foot waterfront beauty in Florida want to talk to you. Rich Ricciani and his wife, Linda, know how important it is to make every dollar count in this down economy, so they've issued a coupon for $1 million off their European-style manse, where the kitchen alone takes up 650 square feet.

Today may be the last time that shoppers can double the value of a manufacturer's coupon at Ralphs supermarkets for more than 50 cents. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles-based chain is expected to eliminate bonus valuations on coupons for $1 or more and will only double the value of coupons for 50 cents or less.

I love grocery coupons. And I hate them. I love saving money and getting a deal that someone else isn't getting. There's nothing like standing in line at the store and hearing the groans from other shoppers when you pull out a big wad of paper, followed by the gasps when the checker knocks $20 or $50 off your tab. But the time it takes to cut out coupons is a drag, as is the time it takes to prowl around online to find even more coupons.

Teri Gault stops in her tracks in the personal care aisle at Ralphs when she learns someone has never heard of a BOGO. "How about peelies or blinkies?" she asks, with disbelief. "Catalinas?" A look of urgency passes across her face: "You don't throw your Catalinas away, do you?" Gault is the Santa Clarita-based creator of the Grocery Game ( www.thegrocerygame.com), an online service that helps members strategically navigate the world of supermarket sales.

WHEN did the coupon clipping club start? Well, let's see. Erma Bronn, 87, joined after she saw it listed in the Beverly Hills Community Services Department newsletter two years ago. So at least since then. Nancy Perry, 83, the self-proclaimed "messiest" coupon clipper, has been coming to Room 101 at Roxbury Park every Monday morning for something like ... is it five years? Who can remember? Time goes by quickly here.

The coupon has gone cellular. Using a free service from a new company called Cellfire, shoppers can download coupon numbers onto their cellphones, show the code number to a salesclerk and get the same price break as the person clutching those ragged old paper coupons. About two-thirds of the users of the "mobile coupons" are 18 to 34 years old, Cellfire says. That's probably because they're accepted at Papa John's Pizza, Domino's Pizza, Subway, T.G.I.

The Vons supermarket chain is taking scissors to its double coupon policy. The division of Safeway Inc. has eliminated double coupon redemptions at about 200 supermarkets in Southern California in recent months and plans to kill the promotion at the remaining 100 stores in its core market of Los Angeles and Orange counties this spring. That's bad news for Kathy Makowski, an Irvine grocery maven whose children roll their eyes when she starts talking about coupons.

Google Inc. on Tuesday started offering printable discount coupons to local shoppers in a bid to drive online shoppers using its Google Maps service to visit stores. The world's top Web search operation is taking advantage of the marketing tool, which is traditionally used by small businesses, to entice U.S. consumers to seek out savings from local retailers such as dry cleaners, pizza restaurants and auto repair shops. Mountain View, Calif.

Katie Temme lost her job as a television producer recently, but that didn't keep her from buying herself a bouquet the other day. She wouldn't have done it had she not found a coupon through What's the Deal DC, a website that persuades merchants to offer discounts by guaranteeing a certain number of customers. Temme got $20 worth of flowers for just $10 at A Little Shop of Flowers near the nation's capital. "I lost my job a few months ago, so this is kind of up my alley," she said.

More than 850,000 people requested $40 coupons for converter boxes that will let old televisions receive digital signals after the U.S. abandons traditional analog broadcasts next year, according to a government agency. Each household is entitled to two coupons, and the total requested since the program started Jan. 1 exceeds 1.6 million, said a spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which handles the program. The $1.5-billion program is aimed at readying the U.S. for the end of analog TV on Feb. 17, 2009.