Extreme Couponer Is Arrested for Stealing Papers

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I have seen this before have you? Someone going through Sunday newspapers looking for inserts to “take” without paying for them. But this women takes the cake. Extreme Couponer, Jamie VanSicker was arrested for stealing newspapers, to fuel her couponing habit. Ms. VanSicker stole 185 papers , in Springdale, Arkansas. Jamie’s only defense for her criminal acts, is that she didn’t know it was wrong.

Talk about a lot of papers. Ms. Vansicker was taking papers from the newspaper vending machines. Did she really think she was not going to get caught?

What do you think about this arrest?

Thanks!  FreebieSweepsandDeals

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  • Angie

    Anyone who steals should be prosecuted. The store I buy my newspapers at puts them behind the counter and you have to ask for them. I still look through them anyway, just to make sure inserts are in there.

  • Elizabeth Davis

    I think people like this are ridiculous. No wonder none of my papers have coupons in them. I usually get 3-4 papers depending on the inserts , and i have stand there checking them for the inserts. I feel awkward just looking through the few i do. Not sure how she had the gall to stand there and look through (AND TAKE!!!) over 100. Come on. Would she really have even used them all? I hope the give her some type of punishment……

  • Jacki Bohleber

    Didn’t know it was wrong? Ya, right! I want to know how people can sell inserts on eBay before they are delivered also??? We talk about this at work…and have concluded they must be vendors of some sort…or newspaper delivery people?

      • Crystal

        I work for a paper distributor and the inserts with the coupons arrive 3 to 4 days early. Then the prestackers stuff those into the another insert that gets stuffed into the skin(front page) by the carrier. There is plenty of time for inserts to be stolen! The coupons state that they may not be sold so then wouldn’t it be illegal to sell coupons on eBay?

  • Rebeca

    She knew it was wrong. Especially if she was using the machine because she was trying to hide what she was doing. She knew that if she went into a store that she would not be able to get away with that many so she went to the machine hoping noone would notice what she was actually doing. This is why it is so hard for the rest of us. She is probabaly the one who has 85 of an item in her closet that she does not even use but since it was on sale and she has a coupon she bought it and noone else got any. Drives me crazy when people act like this.

  • Glenda Parks

    I am a newspaper carrier. Anyone who steals newspapers are stealing money out of the carriers pockets!! We have to pay for these newspapers. Also, don’t blame the carriers for taking the coupons and selling them. All returns that are taken back are checked for coupons. If they are missing we will be charged for the papers without them, and could lose our jobs! Coupons are not worth me losing my job over!

  • Lucy

    It makes me nervous to go through the papers at the store to make sure the inserts are there. I don’t want people thinking I’m taking them out.

  • jaime

    It is people like her that give couponers a bad name. She didn’t know it was wrong!!! I wonder how long she was stealing newspapers before she got caught. I think she should be put in jail.

  • Danielle, The Frugal Navy Wife

    Glad they caught her!! i HATE getting my papers and getting home to find the inserts stolen! I started buying my papers in store at like CVS but to make it worse our papers coupons and sales ads are in a plastic inserts and they are going as far and ripping that open IN STORE to steal them! 🙁

  • Eileen @QponPrincess

    I just hate feeling uncomfortable by checking my papers, I dont want to find out at home that I PAID for something that isnt there, So I have to check each paper in the store while worrying that people will THINK I am stealing or doing something wrong…

  • Kim

    Just had this happen here in the Dallas area as well about a month ago. So sad. Good thing about the Dallas paper if you get it in the 2 pack…..they are strapped together and all the sales and coupons are in a plastic bag in the middle of each paper, so if you don’t see the strap around the papers or hat the bag is open….keep looking for one that you KNOW the coupons will be in. 🙂

  • Jeanne Burns

    Lucy, I totally know what you mean, but if I buy it without checking, you can bet it will not have the inserts. The very reason I buy a paper is for the coupons. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to go through an entire stack of papers to find one with inserts. The store workers will tell you people steal the inserts so why aren’t more stores putting the papers behind the counter to prevent it?

  • tammy

    I went into the store to buy papers last week (most of our stores sales them inside on sunday) and there was a lady in there going thru the papers, I wasn’t sure what she was doing but when she left and i went over to get my papers, I got out to the car and some of my papers were missing the inserts, the store there is very busy and I know the cashier can’t keep an eye on everything going on but now I think I know she was taking inserts and putting them into the papers she was buying, it makes me so mad.

  • dawn jackson

    Im glad to finally see something being done about the coupon thieves! The stealing is everywhere and its a shame those of us HONESTLY buying papers have to at times go out of our way to find papers with coupons in them. I have decided to make a trip to Kroger on Sundays to buy my papers….and I will stand there at the paper stand and make sure all my papers have coupons. At first I felt uncomfortable and then once I talked to the self checkout clerk…she said MANY MANY MANY people look! She even helped me look thru mine! Not sure if its regional but there was an insert for the sunday paper delivered for .99 a wk. And the price stays good for a year! I watch the one delievered and decide on whether to make the Kroger trip or just wait until the local paper comes out…then I go to the local paper and buy it at .50 a paper and it includes ALL the coupons from the previous Sunday! Ill even go thru them at the paper printer! After all….we wouldnt want to pay for a toy for our children or for anything for that matter if something is missing. So I say LOOK thru the papers….and dont feel bad!

  • Michelle

    OMG! Of course she knew it was wrong! Truth is no one likes having to pay two or three bucks a paper for our coupons but we do it anyway because we have too! If i cant afford more then one paper I ask other couponing moms to help out with extra coupons. No big deal! Thankfully she was arrested. Makes the rest of us look bad that she stole those papers.

  • Rebecca

    As much as I don’t like the bad publicity that show has created, after reading her statement about gettting permission from the store to take the left over newspapers I feel bad for her. The store employees that told her it was ok to take them out of the trash should be the ones in trouble this time if this store does give the carriers the unsold papers. I wonder if they really do since it says they were in the trash. At a store I worked at, we didn’t give the carriers the unsold papers. We just had to keep a record of how many weren’t sold. Then once a week the carrier would get the record and turn it in for credit. We would store the unsold papers in a shed until we had enough to burn.

  • pamm

    When I watched the show and saw the woman stealing papers from peoples driveways I couldn’t believe it. saving money is great, but but doing it by using morally wrong ways is terrible!!! This woman knew it was wrong! It says right on the vending machines that it’s against the law!!

  • Dawn Thomas

    Well. . .as far as the inserts being available early on ebay, some papers (not mine!!) deliver the inserts part of the paper a day or so early! It used to be like that in my Maryland town years ago, but it does not happen here (a few towns over I hear it does though).

    The only time I do not check mine is like yesterday when I bought some more from the dollar store and they were still wrapped up.

  • kristina

    We have a store in my town that takes all the coupon inserts out before they sell the papers… You will never believe what they do with them…. They have their employees stand there at the counter and cut all the coupons out for items they sell and them turn them in to the manufactures for the money…. I think that is worse then someone stealing the papers…. Not only is the store owner stealing the coupons out of the papers that other people are buying but then they are fraudulently turning them in to get money from the manufactures…. The store is a mom and pop type store and their items are way over priced as it is…. I have a friend who works there and advised me of this one day when I stopped in there to by me weekly papers…. I always wondered why I never got coupons….

  • Candace

    Here in Roanoke our Dollar Tree sells the Sunday paper and someone has been stealing them for weeks. The first week it was just a few, the next week more and then it was more and more until last week they stole all but 15 of them. This is crazy! People know what they are doing is wrong, but they think they can get away with it because it is just coupons. Stealing is stealing and it is WRONG! That is what makes the prices keep going up and up is people thinking noone will notice or it is not hurting anyone, but it is affecting everyone.

  • shannon

    I go through this every weekend in the town i live in. I usually go to the vending machine to get my papers because I don’t want to hold people up by looking through them to make sure the coupons are in there and also because I didn’t want to have to pay taxes on the papers. Now the vending machines all over town are empty by the time I get to them, which is usually around 6:30/7! I found out at the local walgreens that there were a few ladys that they suspected of stealing coupons so now they put the papers behind the registers on sundays. Well every since then the vending machines have been empty. I guess those ladys couldn’t get there coupons free from walgreens so now there taking them out of the machines…….Its these types of couponers that make it bad for the rest of us who are just trying to get some good deals and save some money! What is the world would you do with 185 of the same coupons……that’s crazy!!!

  • Rachel

    I, too, am shocked and appalled by those who steal and cheat to obtain coupons illegally. From someone who goes the extra mile to make sure that I only save money legitimately and ethically, I strongly dissuade anyone from abusing the coupon process.

    However, all of that aside, I would kindly ask that you do your research and complete a thorough fact-check before spreading rumors intended only for sensation. Here is the actual news story, along with links to the police report: http://www.4029tv.com/money/28776371/detail.html

    Whether or not Ms. Vansickler is telling the complete truth is not for you or I to decide. Regardless, the story sounds completely legitimate. She saw old newspapers lying on top of a garbage can and assumed that they were put out for the trash. Going the extra mile, she did, in fact, refrain from taking them on the spot. Instead, she walked into the store and asked the store employees about the papers. They told her she was welcome to them. Yes, the store employees were mistaken, which resulted in Ms. Vansickler’s arrest.

    However, this is a far cry from someone who pays their $.75 for one newspaper and then promptly cleans out all the coupon inserts from every other paper in the machine. This is not a case of someone hiding out in a dark alley to “knowingly” take something that he or she is not entitled to. In fact, Ms. Vansickler’s attorney states that Ms. Vansickler is “shocked and embarrassed by the whole situation.” Wouldn’t we all be??

    By the way, the total loss due to her “theft” was only $231, which she offered to pay. The newspaper, however, refused, choosing rather to make an example of her. For the record, I have never met Ms. Vansickler, nor am I aware of any mutual friends or contacts, even though we do both reside in Northwest Arkansas. However, as a fellow couponer, I would hope that we would all join together to show our support rather than rushing to condemn without proof. I, for one, would hope that the media (including coupon websites and blogs) would show the positive side of couponing, rather than choosing to sensationalize the negative.

  • David

    i only buy mine in a store, like walgreens. Yes, i will be buy 5 or 6 but I have a large family and do not hoard items. i buy what I need for my family. The machines around my area are usually cleaned out of coupons as soon as the carrier drops them off. It sucks that people like this screw it up for everyone.

  • Dawn Thomas

    I sell coupons on ebay occasionally and I am not selling the coupons, but the time that it took for me to gather, cut and organize the coupons…because it is illegal to sell the actual coupons.