Cash value .01 cent. Not redeemable for cash.

[Krade]

We all see this in the fine print of our coupons, but does anyone ever wonder about the necesity of giving something a cash value you can't exchange it for?

Hell, even if you could exchange it you'd need thousands of the damn things to make it anywhere near useful and even then it wouldn't really be worth the effort.

[Pyrian]

Legal oddities, basically.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/296/why-do-grocery-store-coupons-say-cash-value-1-20-of-a-cent

[Krade]

Yay legal oddities! Not making sense since 10,000 BCE.

[AlterForm]

My history teacher claims to have once collected enough* coupons to "buy" some groceries with their cash value. He says the clerk just stared at him blankly for a minute before fetching the manager. :smallbiggrin:

*Something like an entire paper bag worth of coupons by volume.

[The Glyphstone]

Legal oddities, basically.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/296/why-do-grocery-store-coupons-say-cash-value-1-20-of-a-cent

I found his 'review' of D&D to be....interesting?
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/278/whats-the-deal-with-dungeons-and-dragons

[Pyrian]

Quoted straight from that article: "I don't get it." Probably should've been the entirety of the answer, but I still found it amusing. What I don't get, though, is that the answer is dated in 1980 but talks about the mid-80's as the past. :smallconfused:

[Tirian]

Legal oddities, basically.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/296/why-do-grocery-store-coupons-say-cash-value-1-20-of-a-cent

As much as I respect Cecil Adams, I've heard this one differently. If the coupons didn't have a cash value, then it wouldn't be a crime to run them through a copier.

It's amusing that the question was asked in 1978. Probably nobody born since then has the slightest idea what a trading stamp is.