Thursday, December 8,1988
The Battalion
Page9
oman saves $227 using 499 coupons
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Estrella
ietz has turned grocery shopping
into a marathon event.
| Although aisles stacked with
aves of bread and bottles of ket-
We v . chup seem an unlikely setting for an
1 endurance contest, Dietz has set re-
girds. The super shopper used
reven grocery carts and 499 coupons
in her latest shopping event. Her
mreful planning saved more than
1200 at the finish line, a new record
I for the marathon shopper.
I A secretary at St. Mary’s Univer-
ic Ity, for the past three years she has
hr to t ^ ie g rocer y store only twice
th vm y ear ’ tas ^ * s monumenta l> a
' ' feat of stamina and strategy. After
^ Hionths of preparation, clad in Ree-
loks and armed with hundreds of
^WW&tupons, she began her most recent
■5-hour odyssey at the Lackland Air
■orce Base commissary.
■ Her husband, Richard, a retired
master sergeant, accompanied her.
get the fruits and vegetables and I
|ush the baskets,” he said.
But she took charge of the opera-
n. “I hate crowds and I hate shop
ping,” she said. ‘‘I would rather just
) once or twice a year and get it
er with.”
Her first 1988 trip was early this
Ijummer. This time she came without
■list. “I didn’t prepare a list this time
cause I wanted to check out the
7 heard there was a lady [
n here with seven carts. I
.bought it was a joke!”
—Michelle Scallion,
commissary checker
&
■SI
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nany new items in the store. Also, I
ranted to take advantage of the spe-
ials. I don’t need a list. I can re-
nemberwhat I need.”
She began her shopping at 9 a.m.
Vith her tray of coupons arranged
Iphabetically and propped in the
eat of the cart, Dietz began selecting
terns: four jars of super chunky pea-
fmt butter, 30 cans of tdmato sauce,
iight cake mixes in assorted flavors
rom German chocolate to lemon.
Most of her purchases were basics
nd staples. She is allergic to milk
nd both she and her husband are
liabetic and have to watch what they
:at.
At the beginning of aisle 2 she got
erious and removed her jacket. By
10 a.m. she was on aisle 3. “Get me
another basket, honey,” Dietz asked
her husband.
She loaded the cart with packages
of tea. “Right here I can save $20,
since I have $ 1 off coupons for each
box.” There were 2,000 tea bags in
the cart.
Dietz combed through the dam
aged goods section for bargains.
“You can find things that are per
fectly good here and use coupons
with them and really save. You can
get some great bargains.” She got a
dented box of pancake mix for just
19 cents that way.
Midway through her trip, disaster
happened. Dietz dropped her cou
pons. Luckily, only a few dozen
spilled to the floor and she quickly
retrieved them. Barely 5 feet tall, she
gets quite a workout on her grocery
store rounds. She must clamber onto
the lowest shelves to reach goods
stacked on top shelves.
One cart overflowed with cat food
— 13 bags of dry plus assorted cans
of feline chow. A new cat collar also
went into the cart.
Aisle by aisle the load increased.
Sixteen rolls of paper towels. Fabric
softener sheets for only 7 cents.
Dishwashing liquid.
Dietz took the day off from work
to do her shopping. “Last time,
seven months ago, I went on a Satur
day. It was too busy.”
Checking her coupons she ex
plained that she gets free milk, free
orange juice, free bread, free fruit,
and free soup with various cereal
purchases.
After nearly six hours, she was
giddy with success.
During her hours at the commis
sary, she took filled carts to a special
waiting area at the front of the store,
marking each cart with a sign, “Pa
tron still in store,” so the groceries
would not inadvertently be res
tocked.
Upon reaching aisle 14, Dietz
smiled broadly and heaved a sigh of
relief. “I’m almost through!”
At the checkout counter, Michelle
Scallion, a checker with four years’
experience looked wide-eyed at the
carts of groceries. “I heard there was
a lady in here with seven carts,” she
said. “I thought it was ajoke!”
Dietz put her first can on the con
veyor belt at 3:40 p.m. She got her
receipt at 4:17 p.m. One store em
ployee helped her unload her bas
kets, two checked the coupons and
Scallion rang the items on the cash
register.
Two baggers worked rapidly to
fill the 76 bags. As she tallied cou
pons, Teresa Garza joked, “The
cashier next to me went home. He
was afraid she would come to him!”
The total, before subtracting the
499 coupons, was $860.46. Dietz
saved $227.52 by using coupons.
The total after coupons was $673.91,
which includes a 5 percent sur
charge ($40.97 here) normally ap
plied at the commissary. Dietz was
thrilled with her coupon savings.
“And none of them were double
coupons,” she declared.
Cashiers broke into applause as
Scallion read out the total from the
10-foot-long receipt. “673.91 and
my arm is still there!”
The baggers stuffed the 76 bags,
20-pound sack of potatoes and giant
boxes of laundry detergent into the
couple’s Mazda truck. By 4:40 p.m.
the Dietzes were on their way home.
Once there, it took Dietz more
than an hour just to unload the bags
from the car. It took four hours to
unpack the bags, she said.
Now she’ll begin preparing for
her next trip, probably in May or
June. “I would recommend that ev
eryone save coupons. I tear them out
of newspapers or magazines each
day and spend about an hour each
weekend organizing them.”
As for her marathon shopping ex
pedition, she’s glad it’s done for half
a year. “It’s tedious but it’s worth it.”
Atom smasher poses
big change of pace
in small Texas town
MAYPEARL (AP) — On this par
ticular fine morning, the talk around
the tables at the Busy Bee Cafe is
about things you can’t eat with false
teeth, squirrel hunting, hauling fire
wood and a cow named Dorene.
It isn’t much different from con
versations most mornings at the
Busy Bee, where the men of May-
pearl gather to drink coffee, gossip,
kid each other and express opinions
about what’s going on in the big
world outside — a world that until
recently had thoroughly ignored
Maypearl.
But last month the Department of
Energy announced its intention to
build the $5.4 billion super collider
— the world’s largest atom smasher
— in a 53-mile, doughnut-shaped
tunnel under the fields and pastures
of Ellis County. Maypearl is about to
become part of the big world, and
life here is speeding up.
“Reporters came from every
where,” Ann Heath, the Busy Bee’s
owner and chief cook, says. “A TV
crew from Houston spent a whole
day in here. They even came in the
kitchen and took pictures of us cook
ing. When they showed it on the
news, we had people driving all the
way from Houston just to see May
pearl and eat at the Busy Bee. ”
If the super collider actually is
built, everyone agrees, life in Ellis
County will be transformed. And
Maypearl will undergo the most rad
ical transformation of all the towns.
Just outside Maypearl a campus re
sembling a small university will be
built for the offices of the project’s
researchers and administrators and
the laboratories where the giant in
strument’s brain work will be done.
Thousands of people will move in,
particularly construction workers,
during the years it will take to bore
the tunnel and build the related fa
cilities. Maypearl, a quiet farming
community of 400-some odd souls,
about a dozen businesses and one
policeman, will be one of the major
science centers of the world.
Though the government says it
wants the super collider in Ellis
County, the fight in Congress to pay
for its construction has only begun.
If the money is approved, though,
the super collider would be the big
gest thing that has happened to
Maypearl since April 29, 1903, when
Irene Bowers hammered in the
golden spike that signified the com
pletion of the International & Great
Northern railroad line.
What’s Up
Thursday
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY/JUNGIAN SOCIETY OF BRAZOS VAL-
LEY:Dr. David Rosen will speak about the “Death of the Inner Witch and Birth of
the Creative Self” at 7:30 p.m. in 301 Rudder.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: call the Center for Drug Prevention and Educa
tion at 845-0280 for details on today’s meeti ng.
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: call the C.P.D.E. at 845-0280 for details on to
day’s meeting.
SWAP: will answer questions from “The Book of Questions” at 7 p .m. in 402
Rudder.
TAMU INTERNATIONAL FOLKDANCERS: will teach and demonstrate
folkdancing from 8-10 p.m. in 231 MSC.
TAMU MACINTOSH USERS GROUP: will meet at 7 p.m. in 206 MSC.
FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN UNIVERISTY STUDENTS: will have a Bible
study at 7 p.m. in 407 Rudder.
Friday
AGGIE PARTNERS FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS: will have a Christmas dance
at 7 p.m. in 212 MSC.
INTERNATIONAL CELEBRANT SINGERS: will give a free concert at 7 p.m. at
Aldersgate United Methodist Church.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: call the Center for Drug Prevention and Educa
tion at 845-0280 for details on today’s meeting.
FISH CAMP ‘89: counselor applications will be available Jan. 16 in 213 Pavilion.
Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald,
no later than three business days before the de sired run date. We only publish
the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What's Up is
a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are run
on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. If you
have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315.
Clements promises to veto
any bill that increases taxes
A TTQTTM (A drw/ Rill cofr aeirlr* r*r\-\rc.
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem
ents said Wednesday he sees no need
for a tax increase when the Legis
lature convenes in January.
“I have said that I will veto any
new taxes,” he told reporters during
an impromptu news conference. “I
don’t want any misunderstanding
about this. I am set in concrete.”
Clements made the comments to
reporters after a ceremony where he
received a small bronze bust of him
self and one of President Reagan
from sculptor Jonas Perkins of Fred
ericksburg.
Comptroller Bob Bullock last
week issued his forecast of state rev
enue, estimating that lawmakers
would have about $1.6 billion more
to spend in the 1990-91 budget years
than was spent in the current budget
period.
Bullock said another $1.5 billion
needs to be set aside to cover possi
ble losses from various court chal
lenges to the corporate franchise tax
and other legal actions.
The Legislative Budget Board es
timated on Monday that lawmakers
will face at least a $1 billion shortfall,
possibly more, to continue the cur
rent level of state services.
One of the major factors that
could raise the need for more money
is a state district judge’s ruling that
the current method of funding pub
lic education is unconstitutional. An
appeal of that decision is pending in
the 3rd Court of Appeals at Austin.
“We’ve taken the first step in a
1,000-mile journey,” the governor
said of the coming budget-writing
Legislature.
The Legislature in 1987 raised
taxes a record $5.7 billion to cover a
1988-89 deficit.
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ONE DAY ONLY!
Friday, December 9th
10 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
UNIVERSITY INN
Main Ballroom
(formerly Ramada Inn)
410 So. Texas & University
College Station
Park & Enter South Entrance
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ATTENTION
FRESHMEN!
CLASS OF 1992
| FRESHMAN RECORD
AVAILABLE IN MSC
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