Consumers Clipping Coupons

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but earlier this week I decided to start a coupon drawer. Growing up my mother had a coupon drawer, so creating one not only made me feel terribly frugal, but also very. . . middle-aged. The horror! Luckily, it looks like I'm not alone. The New York Times has a story today about a coupon renaissance.

The Times provides some stats:

Coupon redemption in America peaked in 1992, at the end of a recession, when 7.9 billion coupons were redeemed, according to Inmar, a coupon-processing company. By 2006, that number fell to 2.6 billion and stagnated there through 2008.

As the economy worsened and consumer sentiment plunged, coupon redemption ticked up 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with the period a year ago -- the first jump in coupon redemption since the early 1990s. In the first half of this year, coupon redemption climbed 23 percent. Some 1.6 billion coupons were redeemed, leading Inmar to forecast that more than three billion coupons will be redeemed this year.

More of them are being redeemed by consumers who have long avoided coupons.

Like me! From the data presented above it seems like coupon clipping might be somewhat cyclical. You might remember 1992 as the last time unemployment rose above 7%. Under the circumstances, this probably wouldn't shock anybody. When times are harder, coupons look a lot more attractive.

The question, then, is whether or not the coupon clipping trend can endure. It didn't in the 1990s. Will it this time? I think it could.

I may just be exposing my hopeless optimism, but I think Americans might actually learn something from this recession. After all, this isn't the usual economic trough that includes some layoffs and a handful business failures, with life quickly returning back to normal. This is a recession that has directly affected consumers, due to its roots in real estate and debt. People probably won't soon forget getting kicked out of their homes or needing to declare bankruptcy due to staggering credit card debt. I think Americans might actually become more fiscally responsible when the smoke clears.

At the very least, I think the younger generation might learn something. If you look at those whose formative years occurred during the Great Depression, you find the "Greatest Generation." Some of their greatness had to do with winning World War II, but their greatness also extended into their fiscal responsibility. As I pointed out a while back, in this recession that generation has still been the most fiscally responsible.

Don't get me wrong: this isn't the Great Depression. But it is a very deep, consumer driven recession. If younger Americans' outlooks are shaped by what they've experienced over the past few years, then a lesson may be learned. Fiscally responsible consumer habits, like clipping coupons may, consequently, catch on.

Or we can just continue touching a hot stove over and over, like Homer Simpson, without ever learning a thing.