Show W A SHI UAN D sMALL I C J s Ent This tan fall in New York York eight men will go on trial for aneg alleg edly profiting to the extent of for fer bilking a few huge combines in the grocery prod prod- product manufacturing field who is sue coupons out of lit at least Ay These m men n nare are charged with collect collect- collectIng it s big Ing coupons ud and selling them to 0 food lood stores at a alow alow low rate The grocers then G C W Hard Harder sent the coupons In for lor redemption Uon tion regardless of 01 whether or 01 not Dot they handled the products Involved and received Ute the cash from the manufacturers 5 Marvin PoUnce Ponner aS assistant US attorney who secured the in In- In from a grand jury says that of some 10 worth of coupons Issued by the big soap and food combines each year at least million worth are illegally redeemed Do also lies has expressed the view that perhaps the entire legality of present methods should be looked Into I While not having any affect on the pUt guilt or innocence of the eight men to be tried this ob- ob observation observation brings focus on some most interesting collateral con con- considerations Nobody but a few big com com- combines bines can coupon to thIs vast extent The purpose is twofold One Is to knock out local and regional regional competition The other Is to force stor stores s to handle their brands brands whether they want to tostock tostock stock them or not The cost of all this of course Is le borne borno by consumer as i Ii i nl e d I the price charged for the mer mer- covers coven the tho costs COlts of issuing these coupons which le Is almost tantamount to issuing currency 5 This then does raise a ques ques- ques question tIon as to the Ue morality If not the technical legality of per per- permitting this type of economic piracy to continue I 5 It Is also reported that a bl big factor In the illegal redemptions of coupons Is the chain stores Reportedly they will take In coupons on U all types of goods or brands whether they handle them or not and give the allowance to the cust customer mer meron on the purchase of other goods Thus is In one sense of the word the chain stores tores can be said sald to tobe tobe be conspiring in this matter maUer of Illegal redemption On the other hand many manyI I chains have not only made it plain that they resent coupons being Issued but many have made it very public they will honor any coupons brought to their stores Many other stores do the same thing rather than risk losing an established ens cus tomer to some other store 5 Thus a few big combines seeking to steal shelf space away from independent com com- competitors wield In effect a mul- mul multibillion multibillion billion ti-billion dollar blackjack lint Dut when somebody takes them I themI at their own game they Uley set setup setup up a mighty howl bowl for the law to do something about It 5 This then then Is the nut of the entire ethical problem 5 Should a robber breaking Into a store be able to demand police protection while doing so sofrom sofrom from the hl hi ready to pounce on him r |