Coupon clippers buy newspapers: a study in obviousness

I did a double take when I saw this lead in Monday's 'Drilling Down' column in The New York Times:

Readers of Sunday newspapers are more likely than other Americans to use coupons, according to a survey released recently by Scarborough Research, which measures consumer shopping habits.

Do you think that could maybe, just maybe, be because the Sunday newspaper is where most manufacturers give away their coupons? You needed a survey to figure that out? What's next? A study showing that people who shop at Golfsmith are more likely to play golf?

The survey also found that 53 percent of coupon clippers clip from the Sunday newspaper, which makes the first statistic even less interesting.

So that this post has some personal financial merit -- rather than just being a rant against studies conducted by Dr. Duh -- here's a tip: if you find that you're just buying the Sunday paper for the coupons, consider using Coupons.com instead. It's totally free, easy to use, and has a very good selection.