If you’re not a fan of clipping coupons on your phone, there could be a change coming to your food aisle.
A bill in the Illinois Legislature would require grocery stores to offer another option than digital-only coupons.
Representative Janet Yang Rohr is the sponsor of the measure she started drafting after hearing from residents who were struggling with Wi-Fi in stores or who don’t use cell phones.
The proposal from the Naperville democrat would make not having a paper or other option a violation of the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
San Diego banned digital-only coupons last fall.
Representative Yang Rohr says the current bill would allow the state attorney general to penalize stores up to $50,000 per violation - but she says there are many steps they could take before it would reach that point.
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association oppose the bill.
IRMA’s Senior Vice President of Government Relations Alec Laird tells WBBM banning digital-only coupons would lead many stores to scale back or get rid of discounts altogether.
In a statement, he says manufacturers - not stores - decide whether coupons are digital or paper, leaving retailers unable to create paper ones where none exist.