Manufactures are MAD over Extreme Couponing

I was looking around on the other blogs today... Thanks to Coupons, deals & More I foun d this on her site.  I will be very distraught if the manufactures limit us to  useing coupons.  I only buy what I need!!!!

Word on the street *cough* is that the reaction to the Extreme Couponing show has really disturbed the manufacturers. As in really, really, REALLY disturbed them. There are a number of changes that are being considered to dial-back the massive savings people can enjoy, including the end of National Catalina offers. Apparently one of the manufacturers was unhappy with paying someone a ton of cash (the manufacturer reimburses the store for those Catalinas) to buy their products, and having that shown over and over nationwide, and they want to change how they offer Catalinas.
Safeway has already begun one of the changes being considered on a national level across all manufacturers:
If you have a shopper’s club card, and get an alert for an offer, you are allowed to do that Catalina deal. There is a limit of 4 sets of deals for those who have been offered the deal. If you do not get an alert for a particular offer, you will not receive a Catalina for the offer (note: this is currently limited and not all Safeway offers are like this).
Apparently this will soon be a coming to a store near you for the tiered offers. The National Catalinas are tiered offers (b3 get $1, b4 get $1.50, etc). This may soon be the end of national offers for all.
There are also a few other overreactions being bandied about by the manufacturers including following P&Gs lead to put coupon redemption limits per customer on each coupon. The ones we now see as “limit 1 per customer”? They want to word more coupons like that AND have it hard coded into the coupon (which is a doable beginning this year) so the machine will beep after more than the limit of alike coupons are used, regardless of whether or not the person purchase the correct items.
Believe it or not overreactions like this from the manufacturers have happened before. In the early 90s, a woman was doing a massive rebating business selling forms + (reproduced) CRTs (called complete cash tape deals) and ended up going to jail for it. The manufacturers put a stop to lucrative rebate offers for a number of years after her arrest and conviction. What we see now is a fraction the rebates we enjoyed 20+ years ago, and it was laid at one person’s feet. She wasn’t the only person doing it, I am sure, but she was the one that got caught and blamed.
Apparently the same thing is happening now… manufacturers were vaguely aware that there are “extreme” couponers out there (their definition of extreme and my definition of extreme are not in the same zip code), but never realized people could profit from grocery shopping. Apparently the TLC show brought home to them that getting paid to shop is real, and they are unhappy about this. Instead of embracing the idea that people coupon, the manufacturers are upset and distraught over the situation.
The show has been given 12 more episodes, which I am certain did not please the manufacturers. Maybe TLC plans on dialing it back to the original concept of teaching people how to reasonably save money weekly? Or maybe they will not be able to resist continuing the buzz the show has generated, and we will see even more extreme examples?
Stay tuned, this is going to be a bumpy coupon ride in 2011 as manufacturers, retailers and customers collide, adjust and readjust to the Wonderful World of Couponing. We will see what, if any, of the discussed changes will be implemented.