Stupid Coupons...

I love Airmiles. Really...it's become my go-to source for movie tickets (190 Airmiles gets you two adult passes, two drinks and a medium popcorn. SCORE!). But they do this thing that kind of pisses me off.

See, sometimes they send out coupons for use at participating retailers. Since I do a lot of my grocery shopping at Metro, they figure that's where I'll want to get some bonus miles when I bring in coupons.

OK, good call. But every so often they'll send out a special coupon by email to thank me for being so awesome. I like being awesome, because sometimes I get 10 bonus Airmiles.

Sweet!

So the last time they sent me one of these things, I checked it out. There was no barcode on it, but there was a PLU# (which is the thing the cashier punches into the computer). Every PLU is unique, and it's cleared as soon as it's punched in.

So, reason would dictate that only one person can use a coupon. Reason would also dictate that if I can present the PLU clearly on my smart phone, I shouldn't have to spend my money and resources printing out the coupon.

That's what reason dictates.

But when I tried it at Metro, they said "no." Apparently they have to mail the coupons physically back to the head office, which then mails them to Airmiles for reimbursement (or something like that).

Ummm...so, rather than do everything digitally, where you punch the code into the computer (which is happening already anyway), and all of the data transfers from point to point, they'd rather the first step be printing on paper (that they don't have to pay for) using a coupon they emailed (so, no postage), which is then mailed from the store to the head office (more postage, and fuel), and then mailed again to Airmiles (more postage, and fuel).

Doesn't make sense to me. But, they're companies, and I guess having all those little bits of paper to look after gives somebody somewhere a chance to feel useful.