From being used very rarely to being used to pay for almost all purchases at the grocery, coupons have really come quite far.

The first coupons were introduced in 1887 when a businessman from Atlanta made it a way to introduce his product to consumers. These coupons were for Coca-Cola and the businessman was Asa G. Candler. The Coca-Cola coupons were handwritten and said that customers could claim a free Coke if they had the ticket.

Over the years, the look of coupons evolved and a number of food manufacturers used coupons to promote their products. Back then, even though coupons were accepted at stores readily, very rarely were they used by shoppers and most of those who used them belonged in the lower income bracket.

This all changed because of the economic turnaround of the country. Because of food inflation and the rising cost of gasoline, putting food on the table three times a day or more became harder. This is when people started to appreciate the value of coupons.

Realizing that coupons can be used as tools to achieve big savings, consumers started to make use of them. Currently, almost all grocery shoppers use coupons for their purchases, even those with high incomes. In fact, a significant number of people have been using coupons to the extreme, combining coupons and getting hundreds of dollars in savings. It became even more popular because of programs that feature coupon use, inspiring more and more shoppers to try it for themselves.