Courant
Supershopper Susan Samtur was born and bred in New York, a city where a discount is easy to find and an unwillingness to pay full price is almost an inborn trait. Samtur says her mother is at her best haggling with merchants on the Lower East Side and dickering at bazaars. Samtur, 36, wonders aloud whether it was her New York upbringing or her mother's training, or some of both, that turned her into the incredible coupon-cutting, box-top saving, rebate-redeeming fanatic that she is today. The Yonkers, N.Y., resident writes a monthly newsletter on couponing, turns a column into Family Circle six times a year and has just finished her third book project geared toward inflation-weary consumers. On a publicity appearance in Hartford last week, Samtur and her husband Steve sat down for an interview at the Hotel Sonesta lobby cafe. Almost immediately even before the small talk was over the Samturs' prepossession for bargains surfaced. Asked whether it had been difficult to make hotel reservations with the World Figure Skating Championship in town, the couple said they didn't know because the publisher had handled that. Then, they gleefully launched into a story about the time they got a free flight to Florida during the Christmas rush because they were bumped from their scheduled flight. They said they wish they'd get bumped again, but understand the chances are slim. Two years ago, Samtur gained national attention for her book "Cashing in at the Checkout," which told the public how to save hundreds of dollars at the supermarket through the organized use of coupons and manufacturers' refund offers. Now, it seems, Samtur's publishers are cashing in her reputation with her promotion of "The Great American Rebate Book." Samtur's actual involvement in the book was minimal. But when it comes to talking about rebates and refunds this enthusiastic pixie of a woman can arouse interest in the laziest consumer. "The Great American Rebate Book," (Riverbrook Publishing Co.) is essentially a collection of advertising offers from major companies. Some of the ads have appeared in newspapers and magazines as limited-time offers. Most of those in the book are good through 1981. Samtur said the publishers contacted manufacturers and compiled a collection of offers, then she screened them. She also wrote a seven-page section on couponing and refunding. The cover of the $3.95 book guarantees consumers $3,650 worth of rebates, coupons and refunds, but realistically, Samtur said, consumers will pick and choose a select number of useful purchases. "I never suggest buying just because of a refund or rebate," she said. At this point, ignoring the cappucino she said she had been looking forward to since the previous evening, Samtur dug into her hefty totebag and began her "demonstration." First, she opened the current Mobil gift catalog to a Sunbeam food processor priced at $289.88. Then, she turned to page 61 of her rebate book and displayed an ad for the same processor, with $100 rebate, costing only $177.95 (including shipping, insurance and warranty). It's an impressive start. Samtur said there are three types of rebates: The typical rebate: Send five proofs of purchase from Kraft cheese for one dollar, for example. The instant rebate: Turn to the order form in the back of the book and get an instant rebate when you order a product by mail. There's no delivery charge, no waste of gasoline and no danger of impulse buying. The comparison-shopper rebate: Shop to your heart's content to find the lowest-priced version of an item. Send the company the appropriate forms and get some money back. Samtur's next visual aid was a supermarket receipt tape of hers totaling $121.77. Her shopping scheme (which doesn't involve the book, other than that the first section is devoted to grocery rebates) brought the total down to $59.18. By only shopping on double-coupon days and taking advantage of fistfuls of manufacturers' offers, the mother of three small children said she cuts her weekly food bill from $100 to $50 on the average. From the food companies' point-of-view, Samtur said, refunds and rebates are excellent marketing tools. They are used by manufacturers to get shoppers to try and to continue purchasing their products. They also help companies get good shelf space, she said. Companies can use special offers to "educate" consumers, too. Samtur thumbed through a thick stack of coupons entitling her to free merchandise and found one from "Big H" hamburger sauce for one pound of hamburger. The company's goal is to make Big H, in the consumers' mind, synonymous with eating hamburgers, she said. Samtur said couponing is part of a company's advertising budget. If a company eliminated coupons, the price of food wouldn't go down; rather, the money would just go into another form of advertising, she said. But what about the rebate scheme? Why not just lower the price of an item instead of making consumers go through the rigamarole of sending for a rebate? It wouldn't happen, said Samtur, because companies are banking on a certain percentage of .buyers never following through for their rebates. By this time, Steve Samtur had left for upstairs, his wife had started talking about her clothes and the interview was winding down. Samtur chatted about each part of her outfit and the good buys she found at the original Loehmann's in the Bronx, at a Bloomingdale's sale and at a New York discount store called S & W run by Hasidic Jews. Her husband returned with several articles of clothes on hangers, including a pair of fully-lined wool pants another one of her bargains, she said. The two said goodbye and promised to send a copy of their newsletter, "Refundle Bundle." Steve Samtur asked whether the newsletter address will be published in the newspaper. (Here you go, Steve: Refundle Bundle, Box 141, Centuck Station, Yonkers, N.Y. 10710. A year's subscription of 12 issues is $11.87.) When I reach my car, I realize I forgot to get my garage parking ticket validated. Should I head home or trek back to the hotel front desk? After spending an hour with Susan Samtur, it's not even a decision. I return for the free parking I'm entitled to.
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