Does the Entertainment Book Save Money?

Here's what I'm wondering today:

Does the Entertainment Book save you money?

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the Entertainment Book (or any number of similar products) is a book of coupons that you buy (sometimes as a fundraiser from charitable organizations) in the hopes that you'll save more by using the coupons than what it cost you for the book. But does it really work out this way?

I've purchased products like this in the past to help out an organization and save some money and don't think I've received my money's worth. Many of the coupons are "buy a meal and get another at 25% off" at places that 1) I don't go and 2) are too expensive even with a coupon. They also feature things like "$500 off a cruise". I'm sure that this helps make the savings value of the book higher, but I don't need a cruise and think I could probably do better than $500 off if I went elsewhere.

This said, I have always found some good nuggets in each book -- a free shirt drycleaned (not much value, but still free and useful), savings on an oil change that helps me with my current garage (the match competitor's coupons), and so on. But I'm not really racking up big savings. Maybe it's because I don't spend that much at the places they have in these sorts of books. Still, if I did spend lots of money at these places, would it be a good deal for me?

I'm interested in what you think. Anyone out there have an opinion one way or the other on the value of these books?

Comments

[Kevin]

We bought them 2 years in a row from cousins that had fund raisers. They worked out well for us just for the fact that one coupon in there paid the entire cost of the book. It was a local grocery store that had a $25 gift card you could purchase for $20. It was unlimited for the year the book was in effect for, so after 3 uses we paid for the $15 cost of the book.

Granted, most of the book went unused, but we did try a couple different restaurants out of our "comfort zone" because of the book, so I guess both parties - the advertiser and us - got the benefit.

[WesleyTech.com]

I love the Entertainment books. We eat out a lot and it allows us to try new places while getting a decent discount most of the time.

They also now include recurring online discounts for some of our favorite local restaurants. Typically one 20% off coupon per month. We definitely use those as well.

That said, it also has made us spend more than we normally would at some of the more pricier restaurants, but you don't have to do that if you don't want to! Just check out the menus and the restaurant's prices before you go.

[Amanda D]

I think a lot of the BOGO things for food and/or tickets can be great for couples or a family with kids. I used it a lot in college. There are usually $10/month off groceries or a gas coupon in there too.

I think they can vary greatly depending on area. In Houston, the town is so big that most of the restaurants or attractions are very far away or the coupon is only good at selected stores in the chain.

Also, it's not much good if YOU are not good with coupons. My parents would always buy one and not use it.

[JR]

We definitely save money with the Entertainment books and try a lot of new restaurants in the process. I think it can definitely be a money saver, but you should look through it and see where the restaurants are actually located. The book for my area has plenty of coupons for places that are much farther away than I'm willing to drive just to go out to dinner. Make sure that you take that into consideration when you purchase one.

Also, there's no reason that you need to spend more money by going to expensive restaurants. There are many more cheap or reasonably priced ones than expensive ones.

[Alanna]

I tend to forget I own the Entertainment book, so it's never been a huge benefit for me. Talking to my friends, I am not alone in this.

[Cherly_csr]

I love the Entertainment book. I think that it pays for itself.

I used it for:
-Chain restaurants (Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds)
-Clothing Stores (JC Pennies, New York and Company)
-Electronics Stores (Best Buy, Radio Shack)
-Entertaiment (Six Flags, Movie Theaters, bowling, etc)
-Groceries & Dinning (Supermarket coupons and nice restaurants discounts)

These are places I would visit and spend money regardless if I have a coupon from the Entertaiment Book, so it is extra nice when I get the discounts!

[Cherly_csr]

Alanna:

I keep my book in my car so I always have the coupons ready

I hope this helps!

[Emily]

When I lived in Houston, the Entertainment Book was great -- there were coupons for so many places we went to. But I ordered the one for Austin (where I live now) online recently without first seeing which places had coupons -- big mistake. So many of the restaurants aren't even in Austin -- they're in smaller communities north or south of town. Most of those that are in town are places I've never heard of, are nowhere near the center of town, or are really expensive.

Another reason I rarely use the book is because so many of the coupons are for "buy one, get one free" type of things, and I live alone and often pick up food alone, so it doesn't help me to get an extra free smoothie or second entree when I'm by myself. My boyfriend and I tried using a coupon from the book recently but when we got to the restaurant, it was closed (and it was a Saturday afternoon -- weird). But we finally might get to use a coupon from it together soon -- we have been wanting to go to The Melting Pot for a nice evening but have been hesitant since it's so expensive. I just realized my Entertainment Book has a coupon for it, for $10 off a $40 meal or $20 off this two-person $80 multi-course meal. We'll hopefully finally get some use out of the book with that coupon this weekend.

[Tracee F.]

If you can keep up with them, they do save money.

Every time I've gotten one, there was over 2x the cost of the book in grocery coupons alone. $5 off a $50 purchase, when we never go to the grocery store for less than at least that. We consider the rest of the coupons (restaurants, dry cleaning, etc.) to be bonus - so if we're looking for a new place to eat we'll likely check the book first.

ALSO, register the book online, and they'll send you new discounts & coupons in your email, and give you access to a searchable website where you can get them even for out of town use.

All in all, worth the purchase every year, for us.

[Billy]

I live in a pretty small town (~6,000 people). We're big enough to have all the essentials in town -- but not big enough to have our own discount book. Buying a discount book for the big town that is 20 clicks away is possible but we don't get there often enough for it to be worth it...

[Aaron]

I think the Entertainment books are great. The one we bought this year had 12 $5 off and purchase coupons for the grocery store we shop at. That's a $40 savings (after subtracting the $20 the book cost) already.

We also use it for cheap date night. With the BOGO specials at all the restaurants, it's easy to find a decent dinner for us pretty cheap. Even if we only go out twice a month we still save. It's also cool for finding new places that we wouldn't have tried other wise.

[dmstranger]

If you are a habitual coupon clipper/organizer, as my wife is, it can be a great deal. Treat it as you would the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper and clip the ones you definitely want to use and file them however you do it. (My wife files by category but I'm trying to get her to file by expiration date.) We've more than made up for the cost of the book when we've bought them.

But:

A little due diligence before you lay the money down is a good idea. Be sure there are coupons for things you would have done anyway. The BOGO coupons are great if you are already budgeting for meals out but would have done me no good at all before I was married and not eating out much. Also, we live in a large metro area and as others have noticed, some of the places can be quite a distance away. I've also noticed some chains don't honor the coupons at every location - I'm assuming that's a franchise situation where one franchisee is buying an ad just for his stores. And, of course, don't use the savings as an excuse to over-spend (as we've done a few times and kicked ourselves when the check came!)

Like everything else: Shop smart, plan ahead, know thyself - and you'll save money.

[Bad_Brad]

To play Devil's Advocate a bit here ... I don't think the Entertainment Book saves you money, unless you were going to dine at a fair number of those restaurants anyway, in which case it very well might. But if you rarely eat out, and you are enticed to eat out by the Entertainment Book, then it is not saving you money. It is also not saving you money if you spend $25 or whatever the cost is to get the book and then rarely/never use it.

I have a discount card that my work provides me for free, and I debate with my wife about whether or not the card saves us money. In some cases, yes, as we were going to eat out anyway and the card gets us a buy one, get one free entree somewhere. In other cases, no, as I have been lured into buying something I would not have otherwise bought had I not had my discount card. You could argue that those things have enhanced my life in some way. But it is not a true money savings.

[Blu]

I get mine with leftover loyalty points from a hotel chain, so I haven't paid out of pocket for the book. We get four grocery store coupons for $5 of a $50+ purchase, so that would set off most of the price if I did pay cash. I live in a tourist city, so we have lots of attraction coupons that work well for out of town visitors. The best part for me is the online coupons. If a restaurant I like and go to normally offers the online option, I can get MORE BOGO than the book originally had.

[NH Mom of 3]

We have purchased at least 1 Entertainment Book per year for as long as I can remember and find them to be a great value. Just one hotel stay discount can make up the small cost of the book. I keep the purchase cost down by taking advantages of the frequent specials that they run, plus purchasing through mypoints to earn something from it there as well. In my area, the towns are way to small to have a book for the town so it covers the whole state (or a large portion of it). With frequent travel to other parts of the state, this has been a great way to try out a few new places and save on family favorites. We make the best use of BOGO offers for chain/family restaurants, kids/family museums or events, and the national retailer section. We've utilized discounts for hotels, airfare and car rentals along with outlet and grocery/household shopping. But the key is to make sure to actually USE the coupons! I keep my books right in the car with me, and that works really well. My inlaws go out to eat quite a lot, so we thought they'd like the Entertainment Book as a gift. Well, they are not really the couponing type of folks...plus they go out to eat regularly but at their favorite places only. They don't often try the new things, so they didn't really use it and it was not worth it for them.

[Ryan McLean]

I am about to buy one of these books for $65 and I will make my money back plus more in just one weekend. I am taking my girlfriend to many places that I have discounts for. It is her birthday.
So I would definately recommend them

[Brad]

My girlfriend and I received one as a stocking stuffer one year... we tried and tried, but couldn't get the value out of the book. It looks like a great deal when you see the size of it.. and think 'oh wow, there's no way i cant find a bunch of deals in here'... but when you actually look in it, 3/4 of it is for obscure things that you'd never use or spend your money on anyway. I think we got a few deals out of it, but overall, it wasn't worth the money spent by the giver.

[BroncoJoe]

I have not used an Entertainment book in some time. I am single, so it makes it a little harder to use. Some of our local school teams have a discount card they sell for $10 or $20, and there are 20 to 25 local stores with discounts on the back. One of them is a "two footlong subs at Subway for $8.99," which was a much better deal before the $5 subs started. But, when my kids are home or a friend of mine comes over and we want to get subs, it works out well. Plus there is 10% or 20% off of a bunch of LOCAL stores (local DQ, local restaurants, local flower shop, etc.) so I can use it to support my local businesses, which I think is important.

Lastly, when I do get one of the neighborhood kids selling this type of thing, more often than not I write a check making a donation directly to the organization for the amount of the book or whatever they are selling. Instead of a percentage they get the whole amount to use, although it doesn't help the kids toward their sales goals.

[Lizzay]

I want to support what BroncoJoe suggested about giving directly to organizations. I've been a Girl Scout, and our troop would only get around 50 cents or less from a box of cookies. I always had some people in my neighborhood give direct donations instead of buying cookies. At first, it may disappoint the kids because they wanted some "prize" for selling a lot of whatever, but in the end more money goes towards the troop's programs and the programs that meet the organization's mission.

[Mar]

We always get our money's worth out of the book and sometimes a lot more. This year, we were able to stay at a very nice hotel in Virginia Beach over Easter vacation. It was one I wanted to stay at anyway because of the amenities and we save $25/day over their best available internet price. We were there 4 nights, so it was a big savings for something we were going to do anyway. I've kept track of our savings on things we would have done anyway and so far in 2008 it's about $215 - $25 for the book.

Keep the book in the car and make sure you check it periodically.

http://www.entertainment.com/discount/home.shtml is the companies site and you can buy them direct without needing a charity or organization. In fact, since we're a good way through 2008, they'll send you a free 2008 book for ordering your 2009 copy. However, this offer is a subscription type service that you have to opt-out of or you will get future books. You pay $4.99 for the shipping of the 2008 book now and then you will be charged the retail price of the 2009 book when it is available, but there is no additional shipping and handling charge for the 2009 book. You have to keep the account for one year or be charged a $5 cancellation fee, but this does allow you to cancel before the 2010 book with no charge.

If you have trouble remembering to opt-out of programs, just don't like subscription services or aren't sure if you would actually use the book, but would like to try, there is another option available. You can get just the 2008 book now for $9.99 plus shipping (which I am betting would also be $4.99).

You have to enter in your zip code, but assuming you've seen the books in the wild in your area before, you should have no problem.

A final thought on the website. It shows details about the coupons and offers that are available in each market, so if you are planning a trip, it can pay off to enter the zip code of your destination and review the coupons as particularly with attractions, the savings can far exceed the cost of the book.

[irina]

I recently gave up couponing... After I analyzed that every 20 minutes I spend on reading and cutting coupons I could be writing a Thank You note to one of my clients that most likely will result in a business referral and will bring $300 in instead of $2-3 dollars in savings.

It was hard to give up coupons. I had to really, really "talk to myself"... LOL :-)But I am now feel much better...

[argav]

Entertainment Books used to be a good fundraiser but not anymore. They are a complete ripp off anymore. Most of the resturants in their books are either out of business or under new management and not accepting the coupons. Many claim that they have requested to be taken out of the book and the Entertainment Book refuses to take them out, even after the contract runs out. Many of the remaining resturants are old and dirty.
The book is filled with junk coupons and fast food coupons sometimes in cities 50 to 60 miles away.
Very, very poor marketing going on in this company. I would never buy one again and neither would anyone I know. Don't bother with them for fundraising unless they raise their standards.

[Anthony - Coral Springs, FLORIDA]

NOT A BUYER OF ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS! I stopped buying these Entertainment books now. Here's why.

For 2 years in a row now, the McDonalds in Coral Springs, Florida (there are 4 of them) and the Subway Sandwich Shops in Coral Springs, FL (there are 6) refuse to take the Entertainment Book coupons. They have even gone as far to claim that Entertainment Book company printed this coupon without their permision and that I should go and complain to them. I have, several times, via phone, and via an automatic complaint form on their web site. There are a few McDonalds and Subways in Ft Lauderdale that take the coupons but I cant really be bothered to figure out which one does and which one doesnt. So now, its gotten to the point that I dont present the coupon until after the food is made, then I present the coupon at the register. If they refuse the coupon, I ask for a manager. They always refuse but then I tell them "Now you eat the food" and I walk out. They lost a sale AND the can not sell the food to someone else (my subs typically involve extra mayo, extra bacon, extra pickles, and I ask for extra ketchup and extra pickles for my burgers)

I recently had the pleasure of talking with a McDonalds franchise owner at a conference and asked him about this. A very nice man I might add. He said that the Entertainment Book company makes an agreement with McDonalds corporate office to print these coupons throughout the book's regional locations. It is them up to the local McDonalds owner to decide to take them, or not. The coupons all say "Participation may vary, see store for details". He said some owners take them thinking that it will bring more business in. If you buy a burger and get one free, you may buy fries, and a drink (Which is where their majority of their profits come from). He further said they loose money on the $1 burgers/double burgers or .50 cent hamburgers, but use those items to bring people in in hopes they will buy fries or other higher cost items. Other owners simply say no to all coupons. IF you want a burger, you need to pay for it. Period. He further states that on the dollar menu items, the profit margin is small to none, with many items a loss leader.

As for Subway, he could not offer any ideas but suggested it may be the same reasoning. Its all about profit, he said. With coupons, profit margins go down, but revenue goes up. Although he did state that McDonald franchices cost around 1.8 million to 3 million dollars to open one, the owner typically earns around $400,000 to $700,000 annually.

Seems to me that the Entertainment Book company should know about this, and simply refuse McDonalds business unless coupons are accepted by ALL locations. I understand though why Entertainment Book keeps printing Mcdonalds and Subway coupons. It adds more respectability to the coupon book.