Blame it on the baby brain

So I get to my parents' house yesterday and once we are settled in, I check out the Sunday paper my mom bought for me. It seemed a bit thin, but I could see the circulars sticking out and dove right in searching for the coupons.

Only, there weren't any.

Not even in the weekly Hobby Lobby ad, which generally boasts a 40% off coupon for a single item.

I was shocked. As far as I could remember, this area's newspaper has always had the coupon supplement.

But maybe that's the problem; I'm relying on my memory, which failed me multiple times yesterday, the worst failure being not remembering to grab the power cords for both my phone and laptop. Luckily I have a charger for my phone in the car. But it is not helpful in the least for helping me to upload all your pantry photos or blog faster than my thumbs can type.

And just when I have a mystery to solve!

I'm calling the paper today to find out what's up and will hopefully get the chance to blog from the parents' pc later today.

But for now, I'm going to enjoy a rare childless moment with my iced latte and free cinnamon roll from Starbucks, who doesn't even know it's playing into the research for a future post.

Sent from my iPhone

The Cost of Couponing

My husband, though he is going to be gone through most of this experiment, has really embraced what I'm attempting to learn here and plays very closely by the rules when he is home, even helping me to muddle through my own strange sense of "coupon experiment morality" as it were, when I get a little lost. He understands that I would be hard on myself if I were removed from the situation, so he does his best to help me out.

That said, there are definitely parts to this experiment that are more difficult for him to deal with and I think that we should both thank our lucky stars that I didn't set out to do this for more than 30 days. He'd fall into a pit of despair and I might end up getting divorced!

The main part of the experiment that is causing problems is that it is severely cutting into our weekend traditions. Saturday mornings, our family typically gets up and goes to the downtown market, where we get breakfast and then purchase some meats, veggies and pastas for our weekly meals. Since we can get a coupon for none of these businesses, we basically can go and walk around, but we can't buy anything. We ended up skipping it altogether on week one, but I thought it would be fun to go talk to our favorite farmers Chad and Amy and just see what was going on.
The baby loves Amy. Amy always has on pretty earrings that the baby likes to pull on. I try to explain to her that one day she might have earrings and would not care to have the same treatment, but Amy - who has an almost 2-year-old herself - is so good, she takes all the abuse and more. But I just love chatting with them and hearing about all the great things they are planning to do at the farm! We are really looking forward to some on-site burger dinners, brick oven pizza parties and the pumpkin patch this fall!

While we were out, we stopped at the booth for EarthFare, the healthy grocery store where I was able to get some veggies last week, and talked to their community liason, Elizabeth, with whom I had previously discussed the experiment via email. We discussed a little bit about how difficult it is to find coupons for healthy food, and then she took pity on me and slipped me an extra coupon for $5.00 off $25.00 purchase at the store. That is going to come in handy next week because I need diapers for the baby and they sell them for a dollar less per package than Babies R Us, which surprised the heck out of me! So I'll be able to get the diapers plus some fresh veg or a meat when I go in, so that will be awesome. I also hope that I'll have the opportunity while I'm there to talk to Elizabeth about how the store decided to start passing out total purchase coupons, and what kind of response they are receiving from them. It is interesting; it's like it's not enough to be a store with a mission to bring only good, healthy food to the customer, you have to beg them to go out of their way and pass the Publix or the Wal-Mart to come to you. It says a lot about people's priorities, that's for sure.

We ended up using a Hardee's coupon for breakfast on the way home from the market, and it was definitely not the same. My poor husband said that going to the market that day was like inviting everyone over for Christmas and then not opening any presents. I feel bad; with his demanding travel schedule, he only gets Saturdays, and what he loves to do on Saturdays is go with his wife and daughter to have breakfast and buy some local products at the market. And so, even though our breakfast at Hardee's cost $2.00 and our normal Saturday Market breakfast costs somewhere near $15.00, the cost of missing out on that experience is far higher than the savings in our pocket.

I figured on all the costs money-wise, but I really hadn't thought about the emotional ones.

Nobody wants to buy the cow...

I'm going to pretend like everyone out there who reads has been super busy and intends on taking their photos of their pantries tonight and emailing them to me at clippedblog@gmail.com sometime this evening. Because it is TOO CRAZY to think that no one wants a prize just for showing off their beautiful pantries and/or cabinets!

To those of you who have sent in a picture already, thanks! I promise that - even though your prize will be purchased with a coupon - it will good!

I just don't do things unless I think they're good!

clippedblog@gmail.com! Pictures, pictures!

And let me know if you actually are really busy and would like to see an extension put on the contest. I'm flexible!

Taking a trip, Clipped Blog style!

As I've mentioned before, my husband travels almost weekly for his business, so it's just me and the baby for most of the week days. And while I'm blessed to be able to stay at home with her, there are some weeks where having the husband gone for 5-6 straight days just leaves me a little too coo-coo for cocoa puffs. Such is this week. Hubby has already left for his week long business trip, and I made the executive decision that the bean and I would take the opportunity to spend the week with Gramma.

My parents live about a 3.5 hour drive from us, well - 3.5 hour drive sans baby. The first time I ever took her to my parents' house when she was 2 months old, it took us 4.5 hours to get there and 7 hours to get home. To say she hates riding in the car would be the understatement of the century. That's why it was nice to know that along the way, there were some places where I could stop, grab a bite to eat (or a giant diet cherry limeaid), change a diaper, get in a feeding, and head off again into the wild. But that was before I was on mandatory coupon restriction.

o_O

I have NO idea how this trip tomorrow is going to play out. I've already started planning way ahead: I plan to make a run to the store after nap time to buy some bottled waters so that I can have a store of drinks both going and coming; although I have some fast food restaurant coupons in my little plastic baggie of goodness, I'm not sure if they are regional-specific, so I think to be on the safe side I will pack a sandwich and some snacks; I have half a tank left of the one allowed pre-experiment fill-up PLUS a $50.00 BP gas card that was purchased for $40 with the coupon from the Publix circular two weeks ago; and I've already informed my mother that I will not let her skirt around the rules by buying stuff for us outside of the usual dinner out that my dad likes to "take care of" (oh, how he loves to "take care of" a bill!).

I think I'm on target to do ok while out of town.

I've even thought ahead to Wednesday, where I'll be driving another 100 miles across the state to catch up with an old college friend for lunch. I've explained the experiment to her and she's gracious enough to go eat wherever I can find a coupon for us. And thanks to couponclipper.com, we've got several choices of restaurants within about 15 minutes of one another. I even found a butcher near one of the restaurants who offers a coupon, and I am seriously thinking of taking a cooler and getting all the meat that will fit in it!!!

But don't think that my changing physical locations will slow down these posts. With any luck, I'll get the opportunity to make some phone calls and set up some interviews while Grandpa holds the baby! And I'm sure I'll have some interesting occurences...one with a child never travels without experiencing interesting occurences!

So come along for the ride!

By the way - this picture is very funny to me. Most likely because I watched my husband attempt the same thing last night with our daughter. Poor, traveling, Daddy...

They say it's your birthday

Since my bursting at the seams cabinets and pantry didn't need any new additions this week, I decided to focus my couponing energy on purchasing other items that I found I needed (and some I didn't).

One of the things I realized we were going to have to have was cat food, and that was going to pose a bit of a challenge. For at least the last 6 months, I have never paid full price for cat treats. With two outdoor cats plus one inside, they go through those little bags of nuggets like kitties with a crack habit. Coupons for Goodlife Recipe, Feline Greenies, Friskies Party mix, Pounce, Temptations...I buy them all. But for cat food, we use Royal Canin, and I have never, ever seen a coupon for that in the Sunday paper. I knew that I could probably score a Purina coupon and grab something one day at Target, but the Royal Canin has helped some of the indoor cat's issues with weight and sensitive stomach so much that I was concerned about switching over to a less uppity brand for even the length of time it would take him to eat a small bag's worth.

So I put off buying cat food much longer than I normally would. And for once, my hesitancy paid off: Thanks to hubby's great find at couponclipper.com, I actually ended up with a coupon to PetSmart for $5.00 off a $25.00 purchase! This was exactly what I needed; Cat's giant bag of food costs $40.00, so by having this coupon, I was able to use just that and get exactly what I needed. The most difficult part of the entire thing was managing that 20lb bag of food on one hip and the 15 pound baby on the other!

I also had an unintentional challenge arise during this time: A birthday. Now, it's not like birthdays are surprises. They come every year - at the same time, even - so you've pretty much got 364 days of advance notice. But this was a special birthday: A first birthday. And I wanted a gift that was both fun for the birthday boy AND concurrent with his party's theme. And I had an idea of what I wanted, but I couldn't find it in-stock anywhere on-line. So I took my chances and waited to buy the gift.

And then I got trapped in mandatory coupon Hell.

I panicked. What can you get a one-year-old that he would actually like that you can find a coupon for?!?! Now, I know there are coupons sometimes in the Toys R Us circular, but remember, I was searching for an item to meet a theme, and anyway those coupons are usually for toys for much older kids. He wasn't going to be able to do much with a Nintendo DS game, you know? And by searching more local brick and mortar stores, I was SERIOUSLY limiting the chances that I'd find both what I was looking for AND have a coupon for it if it magically appeared.

After spending an entire afternoon with a baby on my hip at the mall, I resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to find what I was looking for and I was not going to be able to get the birthday boy his gift on time. I was so disappointed. But after searching one last store, I caught a clue: A lot of these brick and mortar stores that I'm going in DO have websites and sometimes, if you're lucky, those websites have coupons!

When we got home, I searched the few stores I had checked in person to see if I could find what I was looking for online. While a few of them carried the item, it was out of stock at every. single. store. Curses! I had no choice but to move on to Plan B, but at least now I knew I could find something in my theme. During this search period, I also remembered that you could find coupon codes at Ebates.com - where you also get a rebate of a percentage of your total! I cruised on over and what do you know: One of the stores where I had found a suitable Plan B offered 7% cash back + a coupon code for 15% off my entire order! I was SO excited! Not only was I able to finally find this little man a great birthday gift, but I was able to purchase it within the limits of the experiment AND I got a little cash back to boot! I only hope his sweet mama understands how much thought and planning went into that gift and that it wasn't just a decision based on cost!

After finally securing that gift, my birthday mojo was working at full power. I had gotten a coupon in my email for a local store that sells little pretty things, and since it was near the PetSmart, I decided to go on in and meander around a bit. Lucky, lucky day: I was able to get a cute little something for a friend's birthday that is coming up in another month or so. And maybe - since it was a coupon for 10% off my entire purchase - I grabbed a little something for myself, too. I am working very hard at this experiment, you know. A girl needs pretties. That is why you need to go online right now and search for your favorite little local shops. Many of them have email newsletters and most of those will show up in your inbox with a coupon from time to time.

I have one more birthday challenge: The husband. His birthday falls two days after the end of the mandatory coupon period. But now that I've got my birthday present mojo working, finding him a gift should be a piece of cake.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

One thing I didn't count on when starting this project was the amount of food stuff I would amass. When you consider that I have been playing the circular/coupon game for a couple of months before I even decided to start the blog, then it will come as no surprise to you that I have quite a few dry good items at the ready. So, just because one facet of the blog is about using my coupons to buy my groceries, don't expect there to be major grocery trips each week. After all, there are only two people in this household who eat real people food, and one of those is gone most weeks on business. Also, my pantry and cabinets already look like this:


Here is my juice army. It is ready to defend my immunity at a moment's notice. Every single bottle of juice you see (or don't) in this picture was purchased with a coupon; about 90% of those bottles cost me only $1.00 each. Why, yes, I do rock some juicy karma, thanks for noticing!

Here are some things that are just waiting to be eaten. A million and five boxes of cereal (or 7); crackers out the wazoo, syrups, frostings and cake mixes; chips and snacks. They're all there, just waiting to be called upon for usage in my kitchen. But they're not alone. Because there are also these guys:
I have sauces and salsas and peas and soups and coffees, teas and mixes out the yang. I don't want to be boring by not shopping one week, but raise your hand if you think I need to stuff one more thing in that pantry? I should have had "project empty kitchen" before I started Clipped Blog, I think. I know for sure that will be happening afterwards; maybe that can be project number 2 - every meal must be made at home and only the meats and veggies should be purchased! LOL What a flip from this month!

One of the things that causes this type of buildup in my pantry is the simple fact that the coupons you get each week and the items that go on sale at the grocery stores seem to be the same. exact. things. week after week after week. I'm planning to explore that in a future post, so make sure you stay tuned, because I'm going to try and talk to someone "on the inside" and see what kind of answers I can get.

In addition to explaining why I'm not shopping big for the week, I thought this post could be a little bit of a fun jump off to a contest. You like a prize, yes? Well, I've shown you my insane pantries, so show me yours! Email me a picture of your pantry at clippedblog@gmail.com and I'll make a big post to share so we can all get a little voyeurism out of our systems. I'll post them in the order they come in through the email and then randomly select a winner using random.org.

Think that your pantry is so horrible that you would never share it with the anonymous internet world? Well, mine is only so neat and stacked like that because I cleaned out for 8 hours one day that started like this:

People: That right there does not even include everything. That is only those two bottom shelving units worth of stuff. Yep.

So bring it on - your neat, your tidy, your dirty, your cramped and huddle canned goods - and the grand prize for all your trouble? Well, who knows what that will be...but what I do know is that it will be purchased with a coupon!

Now get to snapping...entries close at 11:59pm EST on Sunday, July 19!!!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 1

So yesterday was the end of my first week in the experiment, which seems to have gone by rather quickly! I was surprised at how much I learned and how many questions I have about coupons. Here's a quick run-down of things that I've learned and want to learn following week one:

• I am far more of an impulse buyer than I ever imagined
• If you know where to look, you can find a coupon for almost anything
• Conversely, there are some things that you will wish you had coupons for but don't
• Sometimes, if you wish hard enough for things like gasoline and vegetables, you'll get your wish in the form of a coupon
• Advertising in coupon supplements is more about economy and casting a wide net than trying to cash in on people's saver mentalities
• Coupons are the currency of customer service
• Being in touch with a company about their goods and services can only help everyone who uses those goods or services in the end.
  

• How does perceived value play into choosing items for coupons?
• What is the hope of a manufacturer or business when they decide to create a coupon?
• What is the life cycle of a coupon?
• How can you convince a company to start giving coupons for your favorite item?
• Why is there so much coupon repeating from week to week?
• How closely tied are store sales and coupon placements?

I'm sure there will be many more of questions to come, even as I get answers to some of my questions above. I hope you'll stay tuned to find out what I find out...and if you have a lead on where I might find some of these answers or a hot coupon, remember you can email me or comment here!

All's Fare...

Today I stopped by to see our favorite farmers - Chad and Amy Bishop from Greenbrier Farms - at their weekly Wednesday stop at Scratch on Augusta Road and let them know the reason why we weren't going to be getting any of their delicious meat or vegetables for a couple of weeks. Amy was very sweet and tried to help me brainstorm some recipe ideas for my 9,999,999 tiny tomatoes and 9,999,998 cucumbers, but - as are most people when they find out what I'm doing - was a little concerned about the lack of veg in my diet for the next few weeks. While I am hoping to make up in frozen veg what I lack in fresh, I was once again handed a gift from the heavens when I checked Clipped Blog's Twitter Page and found this Tweet from a local healthy supermarket chain, Earth Fare:




Ladies and gentlemen: We have a coupon for produce! It's really tiny, but on Friday, I can get 10% my entire produce purchase!! If you don't think I'm going to go in there on Friday and buy all the fresh produce that I can stuff myself with over the weekend, then you are out of your mind. I'm having salads for breakfast, that's how ready I am for something crisp and green and leafy!!

So I highly suggest that if you have an EarthFare near you, or another local healthy supermarket, that you seek them out on Twitter. You never know what kind of awesome tweets could show up in your nest!

Being Suggestive

Last night before going to bed, I made myself an incredibly long to-do list to attempt accomplishing today. One of the big things I needed to do was to email some companies whose products I've used lately that have either pleased me or displeased me. I think it's fair that if I'm going to let a company know they suck, I should also tell them when they do not. One of the positive stories I'll relate in a different post, but I wanted to tell you quickly about two of the other experiences I had today and their surprising outcome.

First of all, you may recall this post where I showed off my stash of Off! Clip-on mosquito repellents. After using one of these for the past few days, I felt that it was my duty to let Off! know that their "head to toe protection" did not seem to cover my feet, hands, shoulders, or babe in arms. Now, I think it is important to note that even though I was disappointed in the product, I was not angry with the company and simply went into the phone call with the purpose of letting them know their product was not living up to its claims.

Alice at OFF! took my phone call and listened to me as I explained my problem with the fan. She attempted to trouble shoot with me to make sure I had been using the product properly and when she was satisfied that I was, she apologized profusely for the fan's shortcomings. She did explain that some people are simply tastier than others and that she was sorry the fan did not work for me as I had hoped. Since I told her I had purchased four in order to make a protective bubble of mosquitolessness on my patio, she asked if I had ever tried their OFF! Lantern before. I told her I had not, but that I had seen them, so she explained a little about the product to me. It is a little bit like those scented wax melter things, where you put the candle underneath the smelly wax and it melts and smells up your house, except with mosquito repellent smell. Here's the part that surprised me: She then offered to not only refund my purchase price on the fan, but to also send me a coupon to try the lantern for FREE. Not for $2.00 off, not buy one, get one, but FREE.

I most definietly took Alice up on her offer, and am looking forward to having that coupon to try before our Coupon-Catered party!

The other phone call I made was to Playtex regarding the Diaper Genie II that we use for the baby's nappies. It occurred to me one day that - despite using Seventh Generation's biodegradable diapers - we weren't doing any good at not filling up a landfill with our stinkers because we were then sticking them into this non-biodegradable plastic bag! Knowing that there are plenty of biodegradable plastic bag products out there and wondering if maybe we just didn't have a store that stocked a possible alternative, I called up Playtex to find out.

I spoke to customer service representative Patty, who let me know that as far as SHE knew, there weren't any biodegradable Diaper Genie bags in the works, but she listened as I explained to her why I thought they were needed and that I felt that people who were using greener disposables would probably be willing to pay a small price increase in order to also have greener liner bags for the Genie. She promised to pass on my suggestion, and then asked if I was interested in signing up to recieve special offers and coupons from the company in the future. Well, of course I am interested in coupons for a product I actually use! I think the only DG coupons I have ever seen were merchant specific to Babies R Us. After I gave her my information, she closed the call by thanking me and saying, "I'll get a coupon out to you this week!"

Super Surprise Score!

So - in conjunction with my experience with Blue Diamond, what I've learned is that if you're willing to take the time to a) Let a company know they've disappointed you, b) Let a company know they've pleased you or c) Let a company know you've got an idea for them, then your time will most times be rewarded.

So if I were you, I'd get cracking on telling companies how you feel...but that's just my suggestion.

They say it was curiosity that killed the cat...

...but I'm far more convinced it was one of the products from my Sunday coupon circulars.

You know which ones I'm talking about...don't act like you've never glanced twice at those checks with your alma mater's logo on them, or that you weren't intrigued by an entire series of Christmas ornaments dedicated to the awesomeness of cheese. Here are a few gems I thought were worth sharing with you from some of my recent circulars. Stop me if you've seen these. Really stop me if you've bought these, because we need to have a little chat...

The first ad is sort of what I expect to find in the circulars: Useless stuff

In these hard economic times, is your fridge looking empty and bare? Then maybe you should dress up the outside with these Handpainted Dachshund Magnets! There is nothing more heart-warming than a kitchen appliance devoted to dogs in costumes! Look at their tiny legs! Look at their long noses! Look at their hats! I think that for only an initial investment of $4.90, you won't even mind the total investment price of $302.40. That's right, folks, all 25 of these handpainted, expertly sculpted magnets are yours for the bargain price of just THREE HUNDRED TWO DOLLARS AND FORTY CENTS!

Clipping coupons because you don't have over $300 to spruce up your fridge with dogs in costumes, you say? Well, let's move on to our next category in coupon circular ads: Clothing.

First up in the clothing category is this little beauty from DreamProductsCatalog.com.

That's right, ladies - Summer is here but who doesn't hate trying on bathing suits? They are never flattering and that light in the dressing room makes everyone look like they just came off an ill-fated 3-hour boat tour. That is why this product is so wonderful! Not only do you save yourself the emotional (and possibly physical) trauma of trying on a bathing suit, but you can look FOUR SIZES SMALLER! I think my favorite thing about this ad is the model who clearly would be shopping in the children's section if she were four sizes smaller and the only "proof" they have of this product's slimming capabilities is in an illustration done by Bobby Wilcox from Mrs. Johnson's 6th grade art class. Notice how the ad says it "Trims and shapes EVERYWHERE!" Well, sure - everywhere there is bathing suit. This means look out, world, I'm coming at you with my size "__" body and my arms and legs that are 4 sizes bigger! I think I'd rather just see people who are delusional about their ability to wear bikinis than see freakishly proportioned zebras of different colors walking around on the beach or at the pool, you know?

If you're not in the market for a swimsuit right now, that is OK. Amerimarkads.com has some beautiful items in stock just for you.


First up is this absolutely stunning polka dot dress with MATCHING BELT! I don't even know why my closet isn't full of these dresses. Look how happy the models are in these dresses! The blonde lady is almost giddy with her own hotness. But sometimes you don't want to be dressed up so fancy. Sometimes you need something a little more casual. Sometimes, you need this:


Come and knock on MY door! Mrs. Roper would be so proud that her stylish sensibilities are still making the rounds in the new millenium! I can't even figure out how much these things cost, but they would be a bargain at twice the price! The ad says I'll want to stock up on these, and boy is it right! I can hardly wait to get one in every LSD-trip induced pattern! And for all my plus-sized friends out there, don't fret; These come in sizes all the way up to 5X, so you do not have to be left out in the cold without your slammin' mumu!

I just had to know some more about Amerimarkads.com, so I headed over to their website. I found it to be a site that was strictly for purchasing from the ads. A quick google search landed me on their main site, though, and since I had some questions, I headed right over to the FAQ (well, not before perusing some of their GREAT products! Bed wedge, anyone?) to see if my questions could be answered. Believe it or not, the answer to "Who the hell buys this stuff?" was not featured in their FAQ! But I did find some other information, because the website is actually pretty well constructed and easy to navigate. AmeriMark was on the mark for just their demographic, as I'd soon learn.

One thing I learned from the website was that this company sells it's products in eight different catalogs - none of which I'd ever heard of. But they've been doing this for THIRTY-NINE YEARS. That means SOMEONE is definitely buying this stuff, and I gotta know who.

Fortunately for me, Dave Oby from AmeriMark was willing to answer some questions for me about the company and how well they do business. After explaining to Mr. Oby why I was conducting my overall experiment ("my own, nosey curiosity," I told him), I revealed the reason why I was nosing around into his particular company's business. I explained that I couldn't help but wonder why - when the main reason for coupon circulars, as I see it, is to clip coupons to save money - AmeriMark chooses to advertise products for straight up sale. His answer was surprisingly simple economics: He explained to me that the main reason for choosing to advertise via "FSIs" or "Free Standing Inserts" in circulars is simply because you can reach a large audience at a reasonable cost to the company. So, interestingly enough, it seems that the coupon supplement actually works both ways in the money savings game - to us, the consumers when we are able to clip coupons, and to the advertisers, who are able to get a bargain blast of advertising out.

So that explains why they are in the circulars, but I still wondered who the heck is buying this stuff? Who are they trying to reach via Sunday supplements? I really shouldn't have been surprised by this answer at all: The demographic, Mr. Oby explained, is middle-class women aged 50 and over. Of course. Who is it that is clipping the coupons? Mostly women. Who is it that would actually be tempted by the comfort and class of the above mumu? A 50+-year-old woman. It all made perfect sense to me. And when he explained to me who the target audience was for the ads, it answered yet another question I had about why they didn't just offer a coupon in the circular for usage on the company's website. These women, and my mom would defnitely be one of them, are not necessarily technologically savvy. They are from the heyday of catalog shopping. They like the personal touch of calling up and talking to a friendly customer service representative who takes their order and makes them feel secure enough to give out their credit card information. And while Mr. Oby said he could not divulge the numbers of how many orders they receive from the FSI's vs. other means, he did say that they have been advertising in supplements for at least the 15 years he has been at the company, and so one can easily assume that it is a lucrative form of marketing for them.

Because of the nature of coupons is to save, I did wonder if the recent economic downturn had affected their business at all, and I was suprised to hear that it had actually been very good so far this year. Apparently, other catalog based companies are folding, and Mr. Oby said the lack of clutter in folks' mailboxes was helping them to stand out a little more from the crowd. I do wish I had asked him since the company aligned itself with "money saving coupons," did he worry about being perceived as having products of lower quality because they were advertised with other "discounts," but that will have to wait for another interview opportunity, I suppose.

Another interesting facet to this story is that, even though the company uses the inserts in the supplements as a means of advertising, the catalog industry is sort of self-feeding when it comes to targeting its audience. Mr. Oby explained that they had tried doing some magazine advertising in the past but that it did not work very well, and that their main, true focus is catalog sales. So, what I learned was that this company, and many others, rather than focusing on who to send their catalogs to, focus on who NOT to send them to. They then end up renting mailing lists from one another in order to reach those populations who make the cut. I find it interesting that even in a competitive industry such as sales, there seems to be a lot of back-scratching going on between companies, and I can't help but wonder then if, when there is a decrease in competition, can it hurt as much as help?

My final question to Mr. Oby was personal: I asked him did he own any of the products the company sells. He wasn't able to say definitively that he did NOT have anything that the company sells, but did state that he wasn't in the target age range, plus he didn't really fit that whole "woman" part of the demographic equation! So, no polka dot dresses for Mr. Oby, who said the were "not really my style."

So there we go. I think Mr. Oby's answers as far as who is targeted by his company via the supplements would be very similar across the board for the other products that are featured. Sure, from time to time you'll find products that seem directed at men (Omaha steaks, anyone?), but for the most part the products you'll find are very woman-centric. After talking to Mr. Oby and having him be so indulgent to my questions, (And hearing that the company actually designs a lot of those high fashions themselves!) I almost feel bad for making fun of the products. Then again, I think I'm in the clear, because I'm not his target audience, anyway!

Happy Supplement Shopping!