I'm back to my favorite topic of customer service again because of this post on The Consumerist.

In it, a gentleman named Deepak praises Southwest Airlines (that's right, praises an airline!) for its response to his recent flight from Seattle to Oakland, which was turned around and sent back to its starting point because of a fluid leak. The letter he received explained fully what happened, apologized profusely and offered a $175 voucher as a make-up gesture. Wow... if only all companies had this customer service thing figured out...

Cheerios is challenging Americans to eat Cheerios for six weeks to see if it lowers their cholesterol or makes them feel better. As part of the challenge, Cheerios is offering you six $1 coupons to help motivate you to buy Cheerios. You can sign up here. As the site only asked for my e-mail address, I presume these are Internet Printable coupons that will be e-mailed to you... 

Good morning, everyone!

Usually on the weekend following a big holiday weekend, there are a lot of coupons, and that is the case today. In addition to the inserts, don't miss the Soy Joy coupon in Parade Magazine. It's a buy two get one free.

Today's coupons have been added to the database. As always, if you would like the Excel spreadsheet version, it is available for download below.

Also, I should note that I added a new feature to the spreadsheet this week for those of you who save the whole inserts so that you can go back to them later. At the top of my database, you should see the "Find a Coupon" heading, and below that you should now see both "Sue's coupon database" and a link to the right that says "Insert key."  If you click on it, it will take you to a new page, where I give you a key for weeks when we have multiple Smart Source or Red Plum inserts. As most of you know, on those weeks, I will identify the insert in which a coupon was printed by using numbers (ie. SS1 and SS2). My new key will simply help you identify the insert by adding a detail like, "SS2 is the one with the Lasik ad on the front." But it should make identification easier for those of you who save the whole inserts. I hope it helps, anyway!

Happy clipping, everyone!!!

Remember, Cameron Village is giving away free ice cream this afternoon. Customers are asked to bring the coupon from the N&O or the Cameron Village Web site to either the Baskin-Robbins shop in Cameron Village or the special "Cone Cafe" set up on Clark Avenue near the Party Shop and Accipiter. (If it rains, the Cone Cafe plans will be scrapped, and scoops will be available only at Baskin-Robbins.) The promotion runs from 1 to 5 p.m. 

Of all the photo-processing and printing Web sites, my personal favorite is Shutterfly. Not only do they do a nice job with photos, but they also offer a ton of promotions and deals.

The latest one to land in my inbox was a promotion of Shutterfly's new Share Web sites. You can design your own Shutterfly Share site, upload pictures and invite your friends and family to look at them. Through Sept. 24, Shutterfly is offering a free 8x10 photo when you order 30 prints of any size. Use the code 55SUMMER when you check out. To learn more about the Shutterfly Share sites, click here.

I know, I had no idea! I got a press release from the The Coupon Council this week promoting National Coupon Month. The thing that caught my eye was this statistic: "The majority [of shoppers]  spend less than 10 minutes per week clipping and organizing their coupons, and achieve a 7 percent average savings on their grocery bill."

So to me, that means that even if you don't want to devote a lot of time to saving, you can still save a lot with a little effort. If you say the average family spends $100 a week on groceries, 7 percent of that is $7. And $7 multiplied by 52 weeks is $364. I'd say that's worth it... and of course, if you invest a little more time, you can make your savings grow in a big way.

If you like to go hiking or running on our local trails, you may want to consider entering New Balance's "Own the Trails" contest. New Balance is asking people to tell them about their favorite trails, and the winners will receive free New Balance equipment. You can enter here..

I mentioned awhile back that Harris Teeter had sent me a mailing with a really good offer for transferring my prescription to the Harris Teeter pharmacy. It seems now that a slightly different version of this offer is available to all VIC card members.

Through Sept. 30, you can get a free $25 gift card for transferring your prescription to Harris Teeter. Then on top of that, you will also get a $10 credit added onto your VIC card for EACH prescription you transfer. There is no limit. So if you transfer one prescription, you'd get the $25 gift card and the $35 credit. If you transfer two, you'd get the $25 gift card and two $10 credits. That's a mighty nice incentive for a very small amount of work. You can find the details of the deal on Harris Teeter's Web site here.

(As always, I caution do want to people who have multiple precriptions that bouncing them from pharmacy to pharmacy could be dangerous because of possible drug interactions.)

Office Depot has launched a new Web site that offers consumers the chance to trade in their used electronics for store credit. Or, if the items are so old that they have no trade-in value, you can simply pay a small fee to have Office Depot recycle it and get it out of your house.

So, basically, shoppers can go to www.officedepot.com/techtradein and search for the compuer, MP3 player, Smart phone, etc., that they wish to trade in. You tell the site a little bit about the condition of the product and it tells you what it's worth. If the amount is acceptable, you hit OK and receive a shipping label and instructions. Once your product has been received and inspected to make sure it matches your description, you are mailed an Office Depot gift card loaded with your trade-in amount.

Or, if you just wish to recycle items, you will need to pay a $5, $10 or $15 fee for the box and shipping, and Office Depot will take care of the rest. Seems like a mighty fine time to go hunting through your closets and garages for some old electronics to me...

Due to the current weather situation in Raleigh, North Hills has rescheduled two events.

The center's Iron Chef Competition is now rescheduled for two weeks from tomorrow on Saturday, Sept. 20. Chefs from Bonefish and Mura will go head-to-head using ingredients from the Farmers' Market, dishing up delicious treats for you to taste.  Proceeds will go to benefit the InterFaith Food Shuttle.

And, the Farmer's Market that would normally take place tomorrow has been canceled. It will return as scheduled, next Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Oh, it's Friday... which means it's time for freebies!!

*You can request a Quaker Simple Harvest granola bar here.

*There's a sample of Secret Clinical deodorant (this is a good one because that stuff is like $8). Try this link: https://secretsport.safeprocessing.com/

*I've posted other Greenies samples before, but I think this may be a new one.

*And there's a sample of Bounce dryer sheets here.

Just for Men is offering a "Try Me Free" mail-in rebate for up to $8 when you purchase Just for Men hair color. You'll need your cash register receipt, dated before Dec. 31, 2008, plus the UPC code from the package and the mail-in rebate form that is available for download below...

In an effort to raise awareness of Cameron Village's Sunday shopping hours, the center is going to give away free ice cream every Sunday in September. YUM.

Customers are asked to bring the coupon from the N&O or the Cameron Village Web site to either the Baskin-Robbins shop in Cameron Village or the special "Cone Cafe" set up on Clark Avenue near the Party Shop and Accipiter. (If it rains, the Cone Cafe plans will be scrapped, and scoops will be available only at Baskin-Robbins.) The promotion runs from 1 to 5 p.m. each Sunday, but I'd get there early to make sure you don't miss out...

The Franklin Street Yoga Center holds a community/donation class on the first Friday night of each month (that would be tomorrow). Each month a different nonprofit group is selected to be a beneficiary of the free class. For September, Franklin Street Yoga selected the Goathouse Refuge, a safe haven group for cats based in Pittsboro. If you attend the class, which will run from 6 to 7:15 p.m., you will be asked to make a donation to the Goathouse Refuge. Franklin Street Yoga Center is located at 123 West Franklin St. in University Square. For more information, you can visit www.franklinstyoga.com or call 929-0414.

Febreze is running a Surround Yourself Sweepstakes in which you can win $2,000 toward a new home theater system. Even if you don't want to enter, click this link because there's an opportunity to request a coupon booklet with $27 in coupons for Procter & Gamble brands including Febreze, Dawn and Cascade (the link to the coupon request form is over on the right).