7/7 Suddenly Frugal Blog | Is Extreme Couponing Hurting Self Esteem?

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The Top 2 Post just appeared two weeks ago–on June 21st, 2011

OK, so yesterday I posted about the brighter side of “Extreme Couponing.” Today I’d like to talk a bit about the trend’s darker side.

Could the TLC’s Show “Extreme Couponing” be hurting shoppers’s self esteem? Phil Lempert, a leading food industry expert and editor of SupermarketGuru.com and The Lempert Report, thinks it might be.

“When I saw the first episode of ‘Extreme Couponing’ last December, I thought the viewing public would learn new ways to save money and be reinvigorated to use coupons each time they shop,” says Lempert. “However, according to research and direct feedback that we’ve received, consumers no longer feel good about saving $10, or 10-to-20 percent. They’re becoming depressed that they are not able to buy $1,000 or more groceries for 25 cents.”

I can’t help but make the comparison to girls’ and women’s self esteem when they see unrealistic pictures of thin celebrities–and then get depressed because their own bodies don’t look that way. (Hello! Air brushing. In 2008 singer Britney Spears shared untouched and retouched photos of herself in a bathing suit, to show how even a star with a fit body like hers doesn’t look perfect in real life. Way to go, Britney!)

The same can be said for the unrealistic situations that the show portrays, especially when it comes to stores breaking their own rules. How so? In some episodes you come to find out that supermarkets that normally double only a few coupons doubled all of them when the cameras were rolling.

This not only hurts self esteem, when regular shoppers can’t match these deals, it hurts all shoppers.

According to Lempert supermarket retailers are now revising couponing policies to avoid driving themselves out of business with abnormal and unrealistic redemption costs.

“Couponing is a valuable tool for brands and marketers,” says Lempert. “With the Internet’s ability to focus offers better than ever, we should be rejoicing. Instead, we’re promoting a desperate feeling to catch up, saying that unless we can save more than we spend, we are failures at food shopping.”

In a quick poll on SupermarketGuru.com readers were asked about their grocery savings strategies as a result of the promotion of “Extreme Couponing.” According to the panel results, 73 percent said they spend one hour or less planning their savings/shopping trip with only less than one percent spending more than four hours.

When asked “if time is money” 59 percent of the panelists replied that saving time is equally important as saving money.

Even without the tens of hours a week clipping away, 64 percent of SupermarketGuru.com panelists report saving between 11 and 40 percent compared with the “Extreme Couponers” who may save upwards of 90 percent but who have spent between 30-to-40 hours per week clipping, researching and managing their coupons.

Unless you’re running a couponing site and earning a full-time salary for your connection to couponing, I can’t justify spending a full-time schedule worrying about coupons–especially if you end up feeling bad about yourself in the end. However, I do believe that there are some couponing tips you can takeaway from the show, just as I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Agree? Disagree? Post a comment to discuss.

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eBay boosts mobile payments with Zong acquisition

Mobile payments outfit Zong is to be assimilated into the PayPal world, following the announcement that eBay is handing over US$240 million in cash to acquire the company.

Zong runs the kind of operation that looks like someone anybody could manage: buyers enter their mobile phone numbers when they want to buy something from a site, receive a transaction code, complete the purchase, and pay for the purchase on their phone bill. Proving that it’s not such a tough nut to crack, Zong claims 250 carriers worldwide, but developed its system on a fairly frugal $27.5 million in funding.

The convenience of the arrangement – plus its attraction to carriers, who get to add another billable event to their operations at the cost of carrying the purchases for a while – has proven irresistible to eBay.

The acquisition also bolsters PayPal’s relationship with Facebook. The Social Network™ was already accepting payments through Zong, and last year began abandoned its rumoured “Facebook wallet” development work to sign on with PayPal for payments.

According to Techcrunch, Zong also claims big names including Disney’s Playdom, Big Fish Games, Sony Online Entertainment and Zynga as customers.

PayPal clearly sees mobile payments as something of a Holy Grail. When Google unveiled its mobile platform in May, PayPal responded with a lawsuit, saying that The Chocolate Factory had head-hunted developers from its own project to steal its secrets.®

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Car running costs

DESPITE rising fuel prices, the cost of running a new vehicle has remained fairly static…

….over the past year thanks to decreasing finance costs and fixed price servicing.

The Suzuki Alto, Barina Spark and Hyundai Getz shared the honours as the cheapest cars on our roads, according to annual surveys of a range of popular cars released this week by automobile clubs in all states except NSW.

Toyota’s LandCruiser is the most expensive vehicle to keep on our roads with the RAC of Western Australia estimating the 4.5-litre V8 costs as much as $406.84 a week. LandCruiser has retained the dubious honour as the most expensive vehicle to run in Queensland for the past six years.

The auto club surveys tally costs such as fuel, tyres, registration, service, repairs, depreciation and loan interest. Costs vary between states with South Australia reporting a drop in costs and Western Australia the only state reporting a substantial rise of $50 in running costs.

RAC spokesman David Moir attributed the rise to fuel costs which are now second only to vehicle depreciation in total running costs in Western Australia.

Although most of the costs vary between states, the surveys found the cheapest small car is Hyundai’s petrol i30.

Toyota Camry, Suzuki Kizashi and Holden Epica share the honours as the most frugal medium cars, while Holden Commodore dual-fuel (petrol and LPG) model is the cheapest large car to own in Victoria and Queensland, Toyota Aurion is the best bet in South Australia and Ford Falcon XT LPG takes the honours in Western Australia.

The RAC survey also shatters the myth that frugal hybrids and diesels are cheaper to run.

In Queensland, the Camry hybrid costs $11.68 more a week in ownership costs than the petrol model. RACQ spokesman Steve Spalding says diesels are also less attractive this year.

“Last year diesel and petrol fuel prices were much closer together, so diesel owners were picking up the benefits of fuel consumption,” he says.

“But this year the higher premium on diesel fuel means we aren’t seeing the same overall savings.”

He says it also depends on the model as car companies charge between $2000 and $10,000 more for a diesel variant.

The best way to save on running costs is to bargain for a cheaper price and pay with cash, Spalding advises.

“Depreciation and finance are the biggest costs in running a car, not fuel and maintenance,” he says.

“Depreciation is 35 to 45 per cent of running costs and even though finance costs have dropped in the past year, it still represents about 20 per cent of total ownership costs.

“So the more you shop around and the better you bargain, the more those costs drop.”

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Review: Audi A7

 What do you do when you’ve spent the recession bringing out a slew of new models while every other manufacturer has been reining in costs and tightening their belts? Why, bring out yet another new model, of course.

By Jack McKeown, motoring editor Published in the Courier :

That’s exactly what Audi have done. The A7 is a four-door coupe that sits between the A6 and A8 range in terms of size and price. With its low-slung, handsome shape though, it looks more like a stretch-limo version of its baby brother the A5 coupe than any other member of the Audi family.

The range starts at a little over £45,000 and stretches to almost £50,000, meaning it’s far from the cheapest Audi money can buy. Although it’s available in two-wheel drive, the majority of versions come with Audi’s Quattro four-wheel drive system.

I spent a week with the 3.0TDI Quattro in SE trim, which costs a tenner over £48,000. Although the 3.0 litre petrol has more power, with 300hp, the diesel’s 245hp still makes it plenty fast enough and it’s much more frugal than its unleaded counterpart.

Nought to 62mph is cleared in 6.3 seconds and, as with the 3.0 petrol, top speed is electronically limited to 155mph. The other engine choices are a 204hp, 2.8 litre petrol unit and a lower power version of the 3.0 litre diesel, also with 204hp.

Considering it’s a big engine powering a big car, the diesel unit is remarkably frugal, with a combined fuel economy of just over 47mpg. The petrol versions, by contrast, only manage 34-35mpg.

Like all but one of the A7 range, my car was fitted with a seven-speed automatic gearbox, with power being split 60/40 in favour of the rear wheels under most driving conditions.

The auto box is excellent, with gear changes virtually seamless and the long seventh gear ensuring the engine is running low down the rev range at cruising speeds.

The A7 is aimed at reasonably well heeled people who want a good looking car with a lot of practicality. In spite of its low roofline, there’s plenty of room inside for four six footers to travel in comfort.

The boot is big too, at 535 litres, expanding to 1390 with the rear seats down. The electronically operated tailgate opens and closes at the touch of a button with a barely audible whoosh.

When it comes to the driving experience, the A7 doesn’t disappoint either. Incredibly nimble for such a big car, it has high levels of grip through corners thanks, in part, to the four-wheel drive system.

It’s also a very refined and comfortable cruiser, with a magic carpet ride and external noise nicely suppressed.

The A7 is a very fine car in virtually every respect. I could criticise it for its poor rear visibility, but the onboard reversing camera and parking sensors help ensure you don’t bump into anything.

Nope, just about the only valid black mark against it is the price. £45,000 for even the most basic model is quite steep. And a glance down the options list — £6300 for a Bang and Olufsen stereo, £1600 for massage/ventilated front seats, two grand for air suspension, and so on — shows you could conceivably double the price of the car by adding extra equipment. Indeed, Audi’s PR department loaded their press demonstrator A7 with enough kit to bump the car’s price up to £68,000.

Even factoring in its high cost, the A7 is still a cracking car. As Ferris Bueller once said: “If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”

Price: £48,010.
0-62mph: 6.3sec.
Top speed: 155mph.
Economy: 47.1mpg.
CO2 emissions: 156g/km.

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Das boot

It’s no secret that some people will only consider buying cars with an appreciable rear end. Which is why there’s the Volkswagen Jetta, a car that’s pitched at buyers out there who want their family transportation in the classic sedan “three-box” mould.

The previous Jetta was thought of as a Golf with a surgically attached boot, but with the new Jetta, that would be selling it short. For one thing, its smart looks and neat proportions tell you that it was designed as a saloon from conception, and while the underpinnings are mostly those of the Golf, it is longer between axles by 73mm, which gives it noticeably more rear legroom.

Besides, it feels different behind the wheel to a Golf, with less friskiness to the handling. Around corners, it feels like a downsized Passat, more reassuring and stable than engaging.

And yes, comparisons to the Golf are fairly misguided, for the Jetta’s real rivals are mainly from Japan. Price-wise, the basic Jetta 1.4 TSI, for instance, goes for S$107,800 with COE; which might give pause to those pondering say, a S$105,988 1.6-litre Mazda 3. Of course, the Volkswagen offers more sophistication under the bonnet, with a frugal 1.4-litre turbo engine driving the front wheels through a seven-speed, twin clutch automatic. Its 122bhp output is enough to yank the Jetta from 0-100km/h in a brisk 9.8 seconds.

Despite that, the Jetta will average 16.6km per litre if you’re sufficiently light-footed. Equally frugal is the S$124,300 Jetta Sport which we drove. Its 1.4-litre engine returns the same fuel consumption figure, but it has a supercharger/turbocharger combo that gives 160bhp, enough to shave 1.5 seconds off its 0-100km/h sprint time.

It’s the best-equipped model, uniquely equipped with keyless entry and engine starting as well as Satnav, but the bulk of sales will probably come from the turbo-only Jetta 1.4 TSI. Providing Golf engineering in three-box form, after all, is likely enough in itself to tempt buyers from the Japanese mainstream. The 510-litre boot is no token effort – apparently, you can fit four golf bags with ease. That’s something the Golf – or any hatch – would struggle with. JULIAN LOW

Volkswagen Jetta Sport

Engine: 1,390,cc turbocharged in-line 4, 160bhp & 240Nm

Performance: 221kmh, 0-100kmh 8.3 seconds, 6.0L/100km

Price: S$124,300 with COE

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