Hey Chicagoans,
Have you ever come home to one of these at your doorstep?
The bright red bag of the Chicago Tribune Inside Shopper/RedPlum shows up on our stoop every week, every month, I don’t even know, but it is always there.
Inside are a bunch of coupon circulars for our whole building that no one ever touches. The bag o’ coupons usually sits on the stoop for days or weeks. Maybe it makes it inside into the vestibule, but no one wants it, so no one touches it.
Eventually, the bag of papers disappears. Someone caved and threw it out or maintenance picked it up. I will never know.
The point here is that these coupons are unwanted and they keep coming to be instantly (or many weeks later) tossed in the trash can.
If I am the one to cave and pick it up, I will recycle it, but what about all those other houses out there who immediately throw it into the landfill?
Finally fed up with these things, I actually took a look at that red bag and it said:
“For service inquiries or if you do not want this product delivered to you, please call 1-800-874-2863 or email us at insideshopper@chicagotribune.com.”
Apparently, I could have called long ago to get these to stop, but I just assumed like most of the local mailings, you couldn’t get out of it.
I am not the first one to be pissed off by these stupid red bags of coupons. See here, here, here and here. Someone even sued the Tribune about unwanted delivery even after multiple attempts to be removed.
Anyway, I sent an email off to Inside Shopper, we shall see what happens…
waste not want not 
We get the same thing at our house. RedPlum said it take about 5-6 weeks for it to stop (and we’re STILL getting them) but I’m hoping they stop soon!
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How long ago did you unsubscribe? I’ve read horror stories of people trying unsuccessfully to get off their mailing list.
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Luckily in Switzerland you can put a „no advertising“ sticker on your Mail box and then they are not allowed to throw unwanted things in! Nicole
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That sounds amazing!
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I’ve already called four times. They’re full of spittle that they’re going to stop flytipping in my front yard.
Is there anyone else suing or a lawsuit I can complain with? I’m interested in jumping on board. I’m in South Lawndale.
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Hi Chris, I eventually got them to stop after tweeting at the Chicago Tribune, but I recently moved so have no idea if they have started delivering again. I’m not sure about any recent lawsuits though. Best of luck!
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They won’t stop sending them. I’ve emailed, called, mailed, complained on Twitter, put up signs in various languages on my door, caught the driver, etc. I’m going to just mail it back to them in the condition that I find them with my address and a note to stop. It such a waste.
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I have been trying for 10 years
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I don’t understand the hostility aimed at an agency begging to save you money? I love the IS, it takes 10 minutes to go through and usually saves me $10 a week. It’s great to know whats on sale at Jewel and Mariano’s, etc. And there is usually $5-10 in coupons to use.
My recommendation is to bend down, pick it up, unplug and enjoy a short read then toss. It’s good exercise and you get paid to do it.
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If you live in a place where they put it in your mailbox, and have a smaller mailbox it fills the entire mail & if you travel the mail carrier will not put any more mail in your box when it is full so I do not get important mail because I travel for weeks at a time & I stop getting mail after 4 of these things I do not use takes up my entire mailbox!!!
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I’d normally agree with you, but here are a few possibilities as to why there might be some hostility: A) How about if your health is poor and the accrual of papers makes it look like there is nobody home? That is an invitation to be burgled–though if the infirmed person in this scenario is home that becomes a robbery. B ) How about if you have posted a no-trespassing sign, called the company and notified them in writing? If they enter the property for delivery that is criminal trespassing C) The same market circulars are available online. The cost of advertising tends to go back into the price of products (though admittedly not the loss leaders advertised). Delivering circulars to people who have tried to opt out makes advertising more expensive which gets pushed back onto the consumer. When I had a small business I’d get approached constantly to advertise in circulars and coupon packs. They are not cheap to advertise in.
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Those of us who take the newspaper, get the same advertising, same coupons, embedded in the Wednesday newspaper, printed/delivered by the same people who print the advertising as I understand it. So why harass the same customers, with duplicate advertising? Seems like a waste of money. And mine gets delivered waaaayyyy away from my door, the other side of the public sidewalk – what’s with that? That’s littering. I’ve considered contacting the city and filing a complaint. — I’m tired of it, and annoyed.
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I was able to successfully get them to stop for just little over a year. I threatened Tony’s Finer Foods that I was going to setup a boycott protest during the Christmas season because they advertise in a paper I can’t unsubscribe from. Tribune personally contacted me right away and the papers stopped. But now they have been sending me the papers back again, and I’ve called them back twice now and have seen no stoppage in their junk papers from coming.
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Oh no! Since I moved we didn’t receive a single one for a year until 2 weeks ago. Now another one showed up and I am going to have to start this whole dang process all over again!
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So, I have been trying now for 10 years to no avail. I have called 800-TRIBUNE and emailed and regardless of whom I reach and their promises to stop delivering, like clockwork, every week, they are tossed into my front yard. I say they because they never deliver just 1. Now, since COVID-19 has hit Chicago there is nobody to reach. For the last 7 weeks I have emailed them at insideshopper@tribune.com as advertised on the plastic sheath, I have called, I have banged my head against the wall. It seems the only people working for Inside Shopper are the people littering them onto my property. A virtual Catch-22: call and email but nobody is there… and next Wednesday I’m sure there will be another 2 or 3 for me to throw away. Sigh.
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Yes, after the phone calls and emails, I tried filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. It seemed to stop the deliveries for a month or so. But now they have started again. I put up a sign, to no avail. But I guess I’ll try hanging it out there again – it seems to happen on Tuesdays. I have absolutely no use for this trash. It’s infuriating and probably shortening my life for as long as it has been going on.
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