Office of Rep. Marilyn Strickland announcement.
Today (Nov. 1, 2023), U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) led 13 House colleagues in a letter to Samuel Levine, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the potential financial impacts of digital store-issued coupons on seniors, low-income persons, and others without reliable digital access as more and more stores switch to digital-only formats.
“The digital divide continues to leave behind seniors and price-sensitive shoppers, who benefit from store-issued coupons and deals,” said U.S. Rep. Strickland. “The FTC must investigate how the switch to digital-only store-issued coupons affects the people who need and use them most.”
Approximately 25% of seniors never go online, shutting them off from accessing store-issued coupons at retailers that have switched to exclusively offering digital store-issued coupons. Meanwhile, 17 million seniors in the U.S. are considered to be economically insecure, making access to store-issued coupons important to their financial well-being.
Strickland’s efforts urging FTC research and data collection are to better understand the scope of impact and how to improve certain populations’ access to store-issued coupons and the savings that come with them.
The letter was endorsed by Consumer World, and Consumer Reports and signed by U.S. Representatives André Carson, Troy Carter, Greg Casar, Pramila Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Stephen Lynch, Seth Magaziner, Eleanor Norton, Mark Pocan, Adam Schiff, Jill Tokuda, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Nikema Williams.
Strickland continues to champion economic well-being for seniors, families, and low-income Americans through her work in Congress.
A full copy of the letter is available here.
Thank you Congresswoman Strickland. What stores are doing is just plain wrong….even for people who do have access. They are surreptitiously gaining access to people’s phones and watching their every move while in the store and elsewhere.
I have written Kroger CEO and local stores protesting digital coupon scam right from its beginnings. For those without smart phones, technical savvy, the scheme is a rip off. Most clerks, cashiers, will honor digital prices if asked. But who can remember from placing items in shopping carts until check out? I watched an elderly man pay $5. More for a box of berries than the digital coupon price because he couldn’t work the system. When I interfered he was refunded the overcharge. This happens every day, multiple times. There should only be O N E price. The lowest one!