Coupon packet comes

to hometown newspapers
By Jason Reagan

Local consumers looking for substantial retail discounts in a sluggish economy no longer have to wait for a Sunday newspaper.

Mountain Times Publications, which publishes the Watauga Democrat, The Mountain Times, The Blowing Rocket, The Avery Journal-Times and the Ashe Mountain Times, has joined forces with SmartSource Magazine, one of the top U.S. providers of coupon inserts, to launch new bundles of coupons in the Wednesday edition of the Democrat as well as the group’s other weekly publications.

“Our unique position of credible, audited circulation enabled us to attract this national coupon provider that will serve our readers with money saving coupons every week,” advertising director Charlie Price said.
“It’s another very good reason for reader loyalty and reliance,” he said.

With an uncertain economy still lingering, grocery-coupon usage is up 8 percent.

In 2007, 2.6 billion coupons, worth an average of $1.06 each, were redeemed for a total of nearly $3 billion in savings.

The new coupon insert will also keep retail dollars in their respective counties.

“The addition of SmartSource to our newspapers means that our readers can use the coupons from their local hometown newspapers without reliance on out of town metro newspapers,” Price added.

The first insert (inside the Wednesday issue) includes coupons from name brands like Chex Mix, Yoplait, Jell-O, Kraft, Birds-Eye, Lysol and Scott.

SmartSource provides coupon inserts in more than 1,160 newspapers, places bright red coupon machines, cart, shelf, and floor ads in 33,000 stores, and provides printable coupons across more than 300-plus Web sites.