Thanks RSTLME for sending this article from Times Union
LEECHBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police have charged a 58-year-old western Pennsylvania woman with stealing newspapers in bulk because she wanted the coupons in the papers.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for 58-year-old Linda Altman, of Vandergrift, who did not immediately return a call for comment to her home phone Thursday.
Police in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County charged Altman on Wednesday with burglary, theft and related charges for allegedly stealing the papers from a storage shed where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette drops off papers for a local carrier. They believe she’s stolen about $2,700 worth of newspapers in the last 17 months.
Police say they caught Altman just after she grabbed two bundles of 100 newspapers each on Wednesday morning.
Police Chief John Fontaine says Altman told them “she was after the coupons. I’ve heard of extreme couponing, but not like this.”
This brings up the subject of when is it ok to take coupons from the paper when the paper is actually a free newspaper. We have always had the debate whether or not it is ok to take the entire paper and the coupons when it is a FREE newspaper. I believe if you only want the coupons from the paper than you need to leave the newspaper behind. I believe that is the correct and ethical thing to do. Some feel that is rude to leave the paper behind without any coupons in it but guess what? There are actually a few Americans that enjoy reading the newspaper and do not care about the coupons. I know it sounds crazy but they do exist. Imagine what they would think to hear that the couponers are taking just to take and then tossing away the paper. Imagine what the advertisers that paid to put an ad in that paper that got tossed aside think. Then there is the whole environmental thing of what are you going to do with all that wasted paper. There is also a limit to how many of a free thing you can actually take. I believe the limit per free item is 7-10. If you are grabbing free papers just for the coupons please have the common courtesy to leave the actual newspaper behind. If you are running around taking every last one of the papers then shame on you. If you feel you need more than the suggested 7-10 then go to another source. If that means you need to spend more time gathering then so be it.
Do you want to know where you can go to get the free papers that have the inserts in them locally? Well then you will need to come to one of my classes!
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