Grocery shopper Jamie Chase was featured on NBC news last night in a segment by anchor Natalie Morales which left me less inspired to cut coupons and more inspired to drop to my knees in prayer.

Another shopper winning acclaim in the media is Autumn Ahlgren.  This mom of three has some rules as she grocery-shops each week.  Rules are terrific–but these leave me unsettled.  She uses coupons, store specials and clearance sales to walk out of the store week after week for pennies on the dollar. Because  of one of her rules– deodorant and toothpaste , are two things she will never pay for–she gets them for free–and a lot more too.

But, the thing is, they are not free. You see, a factory produced it, a worker handled it, a trucker drove it to the store, an employee unpacked and shelved it, cashier rang it up in a store that was heated or cooled and lit…and they all need to get paid for it!   And they deserve to be.  So who is paying them?  And who will pay them if this practice takes hold by the mainstream public?

I don’t mean to pick on Jamie Chase, Autumn Ahlgren, the Coupon-Lady or the Coupon Mom.  Autumn and Jamie are trying to feed their families and get by–  and help others do the same.  But I wonder if now that Stephanie Nelson, the Coupon Mom’s book is a New York Times Best-Seller she will feel as good about  walking out of the store with  $114.28 worth of products for $1.62?

Autumn explained in an interview, “Even if there’s things I don’t have a need for, if it’s free or I can get it for free, I’ll take it and find a home for it with someone else. “

Ugh. I am so frustrated by the trend I see here in the US to get something for nothing–even if we don’t even NEED IT!  There is a Buddhist proverb that says, “Enough is a feast.” Haven’t we figured out with the debacle we have created for ourselves in virtually every pocket of our existence that one-day…. we WILL  have to pay for our acquisition-mentality and decisions?

This is true in regard to taking responsibility for our health… our education … and our military  decisions.  It is true for Wall Street’s mammoth financial-hemorrhaging of the US tax payers– and consumers racking up 4-5- and 6 digit credit-card debts only to seek shelter in a bankruptcy.  This truth is illustrated in our Social Security System (or should I say insecurity system?). What is that truth?  You cannot continue to drain the system without replenishing it.

We love a free ride– and free rides are fun.  I LOVE a free ride. Truth be told, we CAN get and enjoy a free RIDE, but it feels really wrong to get the entire admission to the amusement park for free– at least week after week after week. The park deserves to be paid something… and it needs to be paid something–at least if we want the park to stay open.

I love a a deal…. I use coupons…. I love a sale and on occasion like to feel as though I robbed a store because I got a great price… but what if we all walked out of the grocery store WEEKLY with $150 worth of groceries and paid .43 cents for that mother-load? I love it when Harris Teeter runs their buy 2, get 3 free deal–But you’ll notice it is not a “buy zero-get 5 free” deal.

This is not what coupons were designed for–at least I don’t think so. It seems companies wanted to get people to try their product and realize they’d love it and buy it again even without a coupon. Further, coupons and sales offer a little relief to consumers and get customers in the door to buy non-sale items too.  It was not meant to be a WIC program.

My concern is birthed from seeing the popularity of this trend–and people actually holding classes on how to walk out of the grocery store and in some cases–actually have the store OWING the customer! It is not sustainable and if we become so self-absorbed to neglect noodling through the effects of the masses adopting these practices on a large scale–we are no less guilty than AIG for playing a part in a massive  economic blunder for all of us.

The “It’s all about me” mentality is so tired and frankly, it’s ugly.  Goldman Sachs is the most recent to join the “it’s all about me” list. You see, sometimes it IS about you–and sometimes it is about me–but sometimes it is about US. I know people find themselves out of work–disabled– or just loving a great deal.  I get that and this extreme practice may tide those over until adversity settles, but adopting this practice as a way of life feels like, well, oogie.

I am usually found speaking about spiritual responsibility–and today I took a side street.  But this feels important because we are headed for another drive off of a significant cliff.  It is time to drive with our eyes out in front of us–to where we are headed–and not on our $ purse $ sitting on the seat next to us.

All the best,

Rena M. Reese

Founder, Soul Salon International

Rena Reese
http://mysoulsalon.com/

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