How to Start a Coupon Clipping Business

When consumers run into hard times financially, finding ways to save money is a top priority. If you want to make a little extra money, think of ways to meet these needs. One innovative idea is to start a small coupon clipping business in your community. Some price-conscious people may not have the time or patience to clip and file all of the coupons they receive in the mail each week — so do it for them for a small fee.

Purchase supplies for your coupon clipping business. The basics include a cutting machine or tool, stamps and envelopes to hold coupons. You can either use plain #10 envelopes or get special custom ones designed to identify your new small business.

Set a price for your coupon service that residents can afford. You can charge weekly or monthly. The act of clipping coupons can save consumers as much as $86.40 per hour, that is if they needed every coupon they were presented with. Base your fee on your estimate of what you can save them.

Create a database of customers. You can simply visit the homes of interested friends and community members to start soliciting business. Senior or community centers may be a good place to start. Ask each customer if he has a preference of types of coupons he wants delivered each week or month.

Make arrangements with your local periodical distributor to ship a set number of regular coupon mailings to your place of business. That includes newspapers and the companies that send local coupon offers in a bundle regularly to homes. If you have a hard time making this type of delivery arrangement, you may have to simply go around to your customers homes to ask for their coupon mailings regularly.

Set up an assembly line at your place of business for clipping, sorting and packaging coupons for mailing to customers on your list. You can also hand deliver the coupon packages at a set location if you want to save postage.