Extreme Couponing Sparks Increase In Nationwide Newspaper Theft

The most ridiculous thing to come out of TLC’s Extreme Couponing is not the fact that we are quite literally watching people dumpster dive for coupons, but that there’s some real truth to what we’re watching. As you are no doubt aware, the economy is in the shitter, and as such people are going to extremes to gather up as many coupons as they can — saving a buck or two does indeed make a difference. But some people are going to far and committing actual crimes. In Georgia people have been stealing 100-lb. newspaper distribution machines off the street, a “coupon ring” has opened up in Alabama. Meanwhile, an Arkansas woman swiped 200 newspapers outside of a store but “didn’t know it was a crime.” Not a single one of these people actually wanted the news, just the coupons. Which, from the media point of view, is just another sad development in the dying newspaper industry.