Power of coupons

[Towntalk]

Here is a perfect example of the power of the lowly coupon.

A nondescript coupon printed in the phone book for the past five years has taken on the allure of one of Willie Wonka's golden tickets.
The 20 percent monthly discount vouchers for Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco's Mission District are being scrounged from phone books in libraries, traded among friends and relatives and have people ordering multiple copies of the directory.
"It has caused growing pains from all angles, from simply getting the stock on the shelves to ordering and being able to predict how much staff we need to schedule and how many people we have to hire." said Larry Gilmore, network administrator for the cooperative.

It has forced the store to increase its workforce by more than 43 percent, from to 185 to 265, and to consider adding to its 63 parking spaces and nine checkout stands.

Coupon frenzy at Rainbow Grocery

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/06/13/MNQV1868D2.DTL


Copies of this article should be made and distributed to all the downtown businesses.