Costly Mistake

Do you clip coupons? I admit- as cheap frugal as I am- I am hot and cold with them. When I can plan a trip and my shopping list- I'm all about saving a buck, or two or three. I love a company that has an app with coupons already loaded on it. On the other hand when I'm out and about and feel the urge to spend some cash- finding a deal is not my priority. Well, I do hit the sales racks first- but if I like it enough and it's full price- I'll buy it.

It appears a lot of J.C. Penney shoppers like their coupons--- to the tune of a 1-BILLion (said with pinkie finger to the corner of my mouth) dollars. That was the loss the company endured under Former CEO Ron Johnson.. Former- because he was fired this week for the bright idea to take away the coupons and offer just plain ol everyday low prices.

Everyone enjoys an everyday low price--- but it was more like turning J.C. Penney into a Walmart... attached to a mall- and it just didn't work. Consumers were left wondering- were the clothes of lower quality, am I going to have to wait in long lines to check out, is the customer service going to suffer? All of these factors likely contributed to a damage to the company's reputation.

The company is now back in the hands of it's previous CEO Mike Ullman. A friend of mine mentioned to me that she had her Friends and Family coupon and she was looking forward to shopping there again. So I guess the coupons are back. Will it save the company? Or is J.C. Penney in its final days?