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On Sunday a manager of the Galveston County Daily News reportedly observed a woman put the required amount of coins into a newspaper vending machine ($1.50) and take all the newspapers in the machine. The manager called the police and followed the suspect, who allegedly had 50 newspapers in her car.

Apparently the suspect was an "avid coupon clipper."

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/248742" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The alleged offense would be a class B misdemeanor.

I guess these things are irrational.

I use coupons, but not much. Most of the coupons in the newspaper are for brand-name food, house-cleaning, or grooming products. The generic store brands usually are cheaper than the brand-name with a coupon.

It just is not worth it to spend hours clipping and sorting coupons to save a few bucks, let alone getting busted and going to court.

- Jim

Wait... people still buy newspapers??

Crossfire wrote:Wait... people still buy newspapers??

...that was my thought...

...back in the day, I got hired to work for a newspaper route manager...his boxes were getting stripped like she did...I'd sit in my car in uniform at a good vantage point with binocs and watch what happened...I caught 'em handing out papers to the folks around, taking 3-4 themselves...leaving it propped open...you name it...those who actually removed papers without paying for them, whether grabbing a wad of 'em...handing them out, or getting one from a propped-open box got the cuffs put on 'em...over a 50 cent newspaper...they couldn't believe they were actually being ARRESTED over such a small thing...the word got out fast, and after the second weekend, he didn't need me anymore....people started paying...no misdemeanor tickets there...they actually got a ride to jail in a police car, made bond, and a couple of them were in their jammies...quite a wake-up call...if it ain't yours...leave it alone...

Probably there would be less of this kind of behavior if people stood a chance of going to jail, getting a record, and sitting in a cell with a puking drunk until their angry spouse or relative came to bail them out.

- Jim

...kinda like Texas Dan said in another thread...folks're gonna do what they want till they find out the punishment's bad enough to make them stop....simple fact of life our Judiciary branch has kinda lost sight of...

Well, if you're a cop, and you have to choose between a robbery in progress, a motor vehicle collision with injuries, and a newspaper thief ...

There just are not enough cops to go around even on the best-run forces, and then they have various critics complaining they are overpaid, underworked, etc.

- Jim

I wish someone would steal mine. The only one that gets delivered to my house is "Al Dia." I've tried calling them several times to get it stopped, but to no avail. Whatever! I'm not paying for it and it just goes straight in the trash.

Most all of the grocery store ads are online these days. One of the reasons that we continued to take the Dallas Morning News as long as we did is for the Sunday paper and the ads. Then, we discovered that we'd actually see more adds if I spent about a 1/2 hour and bookmarked some websites. Suddenly, the DMW and their worthless news pages had no value at all.

I realize that there will always be a few out there who believe that ultimate bargain is a 5 finger discount but it sure seems like the range and variety of thefts lately has increased. I mean stealing manhole covers in Ft. Worth? P..l..e..a..s..e.

seamusTX wrote:Well, if you're a cop, and you have to choose between a robbery in progress, a motor vehicle collision with injuries, and a newspaper thief ...

There just are not enough cops to go around even on the best-run forces, and then they have various critics complaining they are overpaid, underworked, etc.

- Jim

...that's why the guy had to pay me $10 per hour cash to get me to do it after working all night for the city...on-duty cops just have one or two more important things to do...

Perhaps she was just trying to get on TV.

Extreme Couponing: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/extreme-couponing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I didn't realize it was a sport.

There are plenty of ways to get on TV if you don't mind going to jail.

- Jim

Crossfire wrote:Wait... people still buy newspapers??

Only for the coupons.

Just figure out where the delivery routes start and end; at least when I lived in Dallas, they would just toss their extras in the nearest dumpster. Some would do it at the end of the night, others would leave them in the car until time to prep the next morning's batch. I'd walk down to the apartment complex on the next block where the route ended and get one whole paper and the coupon sections to 5-10 more.