COUPON PRESS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19460, 6 November 1928, Page 12

COUPON PRESS.

NEWSPAPER NET SALES.

MULTIPLE COUPONEERS.

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LONDON, September 21. Without mentioning names, the "Sunday Express" and "Daily Express" have been accusing what they call the "Coupon Press," of selling returned copies of their papers at a reduced rate to the public, not through agents, but at their branch depots and publishing offices. "The multiple couponeer," says the "Sunday Express," "can cut coupons from a dead paper as easily as from a live one. His scissors are not interested in it as a newspaper. He wants the coupons, not the .news. "The magintude of the menace to the newsagents is shown by the facts collected from various districts by the "Sunday Express" investigators. "In Manchester many agents cut out the coupons for their customers and.sell the couponless copies in bulk to wastepaper merchants. "In Edinburgh a group of agents are selling batches of 25 copies to single customers.

"In Brighton cases are reported of one customer who buys 52 copies of a coupon paper, one who buys 78 copies, one who buys 104 copies, one who buys 26 copies, and one who buys 80 copies. One customer buys 110 back pages, and the agent sells the residue as waste. "All over the country couponeera are buying coupon papers in dozens and half-dozens. This practice prevails in towns as far apart as Glasgow and Plymouth. In Torquay there is a dub in which couponeers meet to fill in batches of coupons."

Warning to Advertisers. The "Sunday Express" suggests that the Coupon Press runs competitions for three reasons: — 1. A sixteen-page paper of the size of the "Sunday Express" or a thirtytwo page paper of half the size can be sold for 2d, at a profit on the sale alone, apart from advertising revenue. 2. Another motive is to maintain a falling circulation in order to justify existing advertising rates. 3. A third motive is to justify an increase in advertising rates by showing an increase in apparent net sales. "No net sale certificate should be accepted by •' ivertisers," says _ the "Sunday Express," "unless it is accompanied by a second certificate stating the number of competition entries containing more than one coupin. "This certificate should specify the total number of dual, triple, quadruple, and multiple coupons received during the certified period. "Otherwise the net sale certificate is useless as a guide to the total number of bona fide reader units as distinguished from the total number of multiple couponeers."