I live in the South, where a business transaction often takes place in that brief space of time between stories. I have learned to accept this idiosyncrasy, so yesterday as I sat waiting to see the local bank president about a loan to finance a new computer, my anticipation had little to do with the bottom line. I found myself, instead, dredging up my very best yarns in an effort to at least match the narratives I knew awaited me behind the paneled oak door.

Finally the previous raconteur finished transacting his business and the door swung open. I arranged my briefcase and was about to stand when a boy of about five preceded me, clutching the tiniest dachshund puppy to his chest. My business had been preempted.

As the boy left, my smiling business opponent, president of the bank, ex-Marine, member in good standing of the Rotarians and Knights of Columbus, motioned me into his office.

We got to talking about this and that. The stories flew by thick and heavy. Chuckles were followed by guffaws until I mentioned the word coupons. Well, you’d have thought I had dropped a sledgehammer. Suddenly the jovial smile gave way to anger and disgust.

“I hate those things,” barked by previously genial banker, “I wish they’d just give me the money, or reduce the price.” He didn’t stop there. “No,” he went on, “they don’t care what I want. They only care what they want.” Unwittingly I had hit a raw nerve.

“What bothers you so much about selling with coupons?” I inquired.

“What bothers me?” demanded the banker. “I’ll tell you what bothers me. I can’t resist them. Whenever I see a coupon, I cut it out. And then I feel I have to use it. While I’m using it, I’m angry at myself but if I don’t use it, I feel I should. You can’t win with those things.”

I thought about the paper clip full of coupons that sits in the catchall under the dashboard of my car. I never seem to redeem all my coupons. But I never stop collecting them either. When I considered the behavior associated with coupon clipping and began to read up on the subject, I came across the startling term, “Mindless Redeeming.”

The perfect descriptive phrase for this associative behavior, “Mindless Redeeming” has been described in detail by Dr. Warren Blumenfeld and John J. Zimmatore of Georgia State University. In fact they came across this phenomenon quite by accident just as I did.

Blumenfeld and Zimmatore write, “As a part of an eight month promotion, a Long Island, NY, tire dealer mailed coupons offering a discount on several services, including a New Your state motor vehicle safety inspection, to the same 20,000 households. Coupons were mailed the first of each of eight consecutive months and were valid only for the month in which mailed. Discounted and undiscounted prices were printed on the coupons. Customers were required to present the coupons at time of payment to receive the discount.

The undiscounted price was $3.00. The discount price was $1.99, a savings of $1.01. Unfortunately, a coupon misprint for the fourth month of the eight month promotion resulted in a price error. The coupon offered a “discounted” price of $2.99–a savings of only a penny (essentially no discount). The misprint went undetected until very shortly after mailing. Flawed coupons were distributed. What was the result of this typo? Was the tire dealer bombarded with irate, sophisticated, urbane customers who claimed they were not fools? Did business decrease?

Surprisingly, customers came in the same numbers during the placebic, no-discount coupon period as they did during the previous three and subsequent four regular discount coupon periods. Further, and critical in demonstrating effectiveness of the coupon promotion overall, they came in greater numbers during the coupon period (discount or no discount) than they did during the non-coupon periods before and after the eight month promotion.

This story backed up what my banker had to say on the coupon subject. The question that remained for me was Are coupons just irresistible, or is there some other explanation for such behavior? Blumenfeld and co-author Zimmatore went on to explain, “It is often assumed that buying behavior is the result of a conscious, thoughtful process. There is, however, hard data to suggest that some buying behavior is automatic.”

“That’s my banker friend,” I mused, “Everytime he sees a coupon, a little buzzing must start in his head–or perhaps a tiny light flashes–and he feels compelled to clip. Once clipped, he must redeem it.”

Blumenfeld and Zimmatore agree with this assessment. They state, “Simon at Carnegie Mellon institute claims that we process just enough information to get by and that to process all information would mean never taking any action nor even making decision. Langer at Harvard university shows that individuals don’t always process current information, but respond from past experiences with a routinized series of events.”

In other words, according to the experts, people act on cues and clues, not thinking about the specifics of their actions. As Blumenfeld and Zimmatore write, “Behavior may be automatic–mindless–not cognitive at all. In the case of the tire dealer’s coupons, customers who received coupons in the mail reacted with classic “Consumer Mindlessness”: CLIP COUPON WITH INFORMATION ABOUT SAVING…REDEEM COUPON…SAVE MONEY…constitutes the script. After repeated experience with this script, the customer may act only on certain cues within the situation. For example, CLIP COUPON…REDEEM COUPON…SAVE MONEY…ignoring….INFORMATION ABOUT SAVINGS. If the customer redeems the coupon under those latter circumstances, the customer would be using the coupon based not on savings information, but rather on expectation that coupon usage will result in savings.”

Therein lies my banker’s dilemma. In the coupon script,….SAVE MONEY….is implicit and everyone wants to do that. But bankers, like business people everywhere, are sophisticated about money matters, consequently, my friend intellectualizes that no real savings will occur. He responds to this ambivalence by getting angry while clipping coupons.

And what do Blumenfeld and Zimmatore suggest? “Salespersons can capitalize on ‘Consumer Mindlessness’ by making customers aware of the phenomenon, thereby holding on to current accounts and gaining the trust of new ones.”

And what of my banker friend? I plan to give him one of those tacky vinyl coupon wallets for Bankers Day. I just happened to get a coupon for one in the mail.