The Origin of Coupons

cou·pon [koo-pon, kyoo-] –noun

          a portion of a certificate , ticket, label, advertisement or the like, set off from the main body by dotted lines or the like to emphasize its separability, entitling the holder to something, as a gift or discount, or for use as an order blank, a contest entry, form, etc.

            The definition of a coupon is not difficult- it is easy to find in the dictionary.   But, what happens when you look deeper? In 1888, Asa Chandler of Coca-Cola had the idea to use paper credits for free glasses of coke to market his product. What a concept, huh? The idea of losing money to gain money at that time had to be so completely terrifying and foreign that only true genius could see the effectiveness of it. As the years went on, business owners slowly opened up their minds to this repulsive idea-until October 29^th, 1929. Black Tuesday.

            At this point, a “slow and gradual introduction” of the coupon was not possible. It became a fact of life.  Saving money in the Great Depression was a necessity. The increase in coupon usage in this time is comparable to the technology boom of our era. They were everywhere.  It actually made the situation worse because markets were unable to stock their stores to keep up with the amount of deals they were putting out. (Groupon knows what I mean… cough, cough.) The idea survived through the depression and continued to grow consistently. Years later, Terry Loebel would realize the power.

1968 marked the creation of Valpak direct mail marketing. Like any small business creator, Loebel, had to create a distinguishable difference from other coupon companies. The difference for Terry Loebel in the 60’s would be hometown connections and friendliness. It didn't take long for the blue envelope to become one of the most recognized and widely used direct mail, coupon-filled envelopes available to the savings hungry public. 

The next dimension for a coupon boom would only be known by his last name. They called him….  “.com”.  The explosion of the internet in the 1990’s gave this once magic piece of paper limitless potential. With easy access to targeting a variety of demographics, businesses ramped up the savings once again.  One last explosion (ouch-the recession hurts) created the aftermath that is today’s dependence on savings.  Coupon users across the U.S., perhaps including Alaska and Hawaii, although I don’t think it really matters, saved almost $4 billion. That means on average, each person saved a whopping….. $20! Oh. Maybe the averages are off considering I didn’t take into account children, non-coupon users, and outlying individuals who maybe only used once or twice.

Anywho, the simple fact still remains that people seem to enjoy money-saving paper, clicks  or taps on their phone.  We here at Valpak are attempting to give the magic paper, websites and apps more and more uses that apply to you. Au revoir!