Minneapolis Star
When Susan Samtur goes to market, she carries with her a bundle of coupons all carefully matched with the sale items for that particular week. Her diligence in selecting coupon and sale items when shopping for her family is such that she says her typical cash payment is one-half or less of the checkout total. When the Yonkers, N.Y., homemaker visited here last week she showed a recent sales slip from a supermarket that totaled $134.33, but after the coupons were subtracted, she paid only $66.44. Buying sale items, collecting coupons, and sending in for refunds or certificates for free products was, at first, the way Susan Samtur saved a few dollars to help ease the bind of paying for a new house. Then it became a hobby, something she shared with friends where she taught. In 1973, she began publishing a newsletter to share details on coupons and refunds; the original subscriber list numbered 13. Now she and her husband, Stephen, also a teacher, publish a small monthly magazine, Refundle Bundle, for 33,000 subscribers interested in saving money at the supermarket. Basically, Samtur's saving system involves cross-referencing well-kept files of cash-off coupons with items being offered at special prices in store advertising. She also saves every label, or the part of it needed for proof of purchase for refunds or "free with so many labels" offers. Samtur is beating the companies that promote products at their own game, because they expect a relatively small proportion of shoppers to use them. But her shopping scheme dictates that much of the Samtur family diet is composed of processed, convenience foods. Samtur says her goal is to send off at least 25 refund coupons a week, sometimes filling them out and addressing them on airplanes, in doctor's waiting rooms or while watching television. All of these efforts combine to save as much as half on the Samtur's regular, every-other-week family shopping. But Samtur can save much more when she wants to prove a point. On her first appearance on NBC-TV's "Today" show in April 1978, she shopped for $130.18 worth of supermarket goods and paid only $7.07. Last week, shopping at a Red Owl store in Minneapolis, she bought items worth $75.04 for only $2.88 cash ... and she had picked up several blanks to mail off for refunds while shopping. "It's like having a part-time job that pays about $10 a hour," said Samtur in an interview. She also gets about $100 worth of refunds a month, she said, and that doesn't count the gifts like a burger cooker or a dog's dish. Most people aren't even aware of the potential of this kind of supermarket saving, said the young mother. She said she often actually makes a profit on buying items by buying them on sale, using a cash-off coupon and then sending in for a refund. Samtur suggests beginning your own refund system program by saving the labels or lids on everything you use. "Someone estimated that every time you throw away labels, you are tossing $3 out the door," she said. Become award of refunds; notice the difference between a cash-off coupon and the one you send in for money or a product, she emphasized. She keeps coupons filed by brand name and type of product. Shoppers who try to avoid using convenience foods can take advantage of many offers on basic products: oils, flours and other baking items. And there are product tie-in offers for coordinating foods such as a recent ground meat offer that came with a ketchup label. Another example is cereals which sometimes feature offers for fresh fruits or orange juice, according to Samtur. Paper products and cleaning supplies also have many offers. "We haven't paid for paper goods in years," said Samtur. She estimates that she spends about five hours a week doing all this, but much of the work is not scheduled, but done in the few minutes waiting for the washer to finish its cycle or talking on the phone, she said. In fact, shoe boxes filled with labels and coupons sit by the washer and dryer waiting to be sorted. Samtur's appearances on "Today" in 1978 prompted 150,000 inquiries. The enthusiastic coupon expert was soon appearing on television and radio shows across the country. Also a result of the television shows, a publishing house contracted with Samtur to do a book, "Cashing in at the Checkout," (published by Stonesong Press of Grosset and Dunlap, $6.95, 152 pages). The Samturs' 24-page newsprint magazine, crammed with information about coupon offers, saves its readers hours of thumbing through magazines and newspapers looking for offers. It also features a coupon swap page. Published monthly, the magazine subscription rate is $9. Write: Refundle Bundle, P.O. Box 141, Centuck Station, Yonkers, N.Y. 10710.
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