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iDriveX · Mar 19, 2005, 01:48 PM

So I just got an American Express card and they have this partner called "SmartSource.com". They are a coupon printing service for grocery stores and stuff. I was blown away to go to their website and see at the bottom "Best used with Safari 1.2 or higher. Download your FREE Safari Browser" with a link to Apple's website. This isn't exactly a mainstream website. THEN, after signing up I was prompted to download and install their "Coupon Manager". I thought, ok here's where I will download some exe file....wrong...it downloaded "MacCouponManager.dmg". Damn. Apple's certainly making some inroads all of a sudden. Here are some pics:

Website
Installer

It installs a plugin in Safari and then you get a page that looks like this:

More Website

And then when you click on the check boxes, and go to print, it only prints out the coupons that you checked.

Pretty cool way to "clip" coupons. You can also tell it what stores you shop at and it will only give you coupons for that store. I love this thing all around!

Randman · Mar 19, 2005, 01:52 PM

Cool, it's about time. Guess amex (which I personally hate) does know its targeted market. Better than the prompts saying: This website is best viewed in Internet Explorer 5 or some garbage like that.

iDriveX · Mar 19, 2005, 01:54 PM

Damn, so after you click on the check boxes you click "I'm done, Print Now" and then there's no print dialog box or anything, all of a sudden your coupons just start printing and they are fully scannable at the register and look like a completely normal coupon, and then it also tracks how much money you save over time. Pretty cool service, and it's all free for the user (I'm assuming they get a cut of the product sold or what not so it's good stuff for everyone!

Randman · Mar 19, 2005, 01:56 PM

Looking at the site, they also offer links to FireFox and Netscape as well as IE on the Windows side. First time I've see FF mentioned like that as well.

iDriveX · Mar 19, 2005, 02:06 PM

Yeah I just figured that out too....Hey I just gotta give them props for making saving money so easy and having built a mac installer (Easy as it is) and a Safari Plugin (not incredibly easy) and having the whole thing work so seamlessly. Many companies should take a page out of their book.

pooka · Mar 19, 2005, 02:54 PM

I have a hard time trusting a company like this with their software installed on my computer.

iDriveX · Mar 19, 2005, 04:13 PM

Originally posted by pooka:
I have a hard time trusting a company like this with their software installed on my computer.

I totally know what you mean. Companies that spend a good amount of money and time hiring a developer to write a plug-in for a browser with a 1% marketshare and actually target those users with their product and THEN actually sign a contract with a company like American Express to market themselves....I can see your point!

pooka · Mar 19, 2005, 05:26 PM

Roll your eyes at me all you want. Glad you're happy with their plugin and service. I was just making a comment about installing software from a company that I know nothing about.. that really seems to be interested in collecting info from me to sell.. and who is owned by News Corp.

Honestly I am curious. I like the idea. I'm just really unsure what the software is for and why it is required. Seems a little suspect is all.

OptimusG4 · Mar 19, 2005, 05:29 PM

Originally posted by pooka:
Roll your eyes at me all you want. Glad you're happy with their plugin and service. I was just making a comment about installing software from a company that I know nothing about.. that really seems to be interested in collecting info from me to sell.. and who is owned by News Corp.

Honestly I am curious. I like the idea. I'm just really unsure what the software is for and why it is required. Seems a little suspect is all.

Its an internet plugin that enables Safari to print coupons via their site. Nothing else is installed on the system. And the only information they collect is the email address, gender and birthdate, which you can always make up. Everything else is optional.

pooka · Mar 19, 2005, 06:27 PM

Originally posted by OptimusG4:
Its an internet plugin that enables Safari to print coupons via their site. Nothing else is installed on the system. And the only information they collect is the email address, gender and birthdate, which you can always make up. Everything else is optional.

I get that. I was just a little curious/suspicious as to why it was required. That's all. No biggie. Be merry. Didn't mean to piss on anyone's parade.

iDriveX · Mar 19, 2005, 07:02 PM

Originally posted by pooka:
I get that. I was just a little curious/suspicious as to why it was required. That's all. No biggie. Be merry. Didn't mean to piss on anyone's parade.

Probably because they want to know what coupons to target at you, just a guess? I printed off some coupons for some bacon bits and it worked at the grocer today.

Ricky · Mar 19, 2005, 07:06 PM

I tried to sign up but kept getting a message saying Macs aren't supported.

iDriveX · Mar 19, 2005, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by Ricky:
I tried to sign up but kept getting a message saying Macs aren't supported.

What the F? I was just using it earlier and it still seems to be working fine now...Are you using 10.3 with Safari 1.2 or greater?

mishap · Mar 20, 2005, 09:54 AM

what does the plugin actually do?

the page layout can easily be done with CSS... nothing special really. just looks like multiple divs with checkboxes, images and text inside.

the reason why they ask for 1.2? probably becase 1.2 handles the css correctly.

discotronic · Mar 20, 2005, 11:30 AM

Thanks for the tip. I've been trying to find a place like this for my Mother. She likes to get coupons but she couldn't find a site that was Mac compatible. Works like a charm.

dav · Mar 20, 2005, 11:57 AM

Originally posted by iDriveX:
What the F? I was just using it earlier and it still seems to be working fine now...Are you using 10.3 with Safari 1.2 or greater?

i got the same "we're sorry" screen. but i think i found a way around - i went back to the original screen and typed in my email and a password. the site said it wasn't registered (duh), but from there it gave me a good link to register.

Ricky · Mar 22, 2005, 05:49 PM

Originally posted by iDriveX:
What the F? I was just using it earlier and it still seems to be working fine now...Are you using 10.3 with Safari 1.2 or greater?

Everything is up to date but I used dav's tip and it worked fine.

danbert · Mar 22, 2005, 11:12 PM

Originally posted by pooka:
Honestly I am curious. I like the idea. I'm just really unsure what the software is for and why it is required. Seems a little suspect is all. [/B]

Maybe I'm just playing devil's advocate here for big business, but whatever...

Problems:
Manufacturers and stores probably wouldn't buy into an online, printable coupon program unless (at least) the following conditions have been met:
a. Access to and printing of coupons can be controlled.
b. Reasonable anti-tampering devices have been put into place.
c. There's a way to track usage.

Solutions:
a. Require users to login to the SmartSource website to access and print their coupons, and develop and implement a proprietary system which digitally tags all printed coupons (your name is printed on the coupon, and a tracking ID is integrated into the barcode) and bypasses all enduser printing controls (if the print process was completed using standard operating system print dialog boxes the user would be able to print as many copies as they wanted or save the coupon as a PDF [or other digital format] and modify it to their heart's content)
b. The printing system mentioned in a. satisfies this issue - the enduser never sees or has access to a(n easily editable) digital version of the coupon. The main concerns here are so that the enduser can't easily go and change the coupon's value, expiration date, or applicable product (ergo: customized barcode.)
c. This is really more for SmartSource's purposes - a way to numerically justify the value of their services to their partners/'clients' and to themselves, which allows them to continue doing what they're doing

Certainly, someone could still print out a coupon, scan it, and then do whatever they wanted with it, but they could also do that with traditionally distributed coupons. Obviously the industry hasn't been too worried about this or we wouldn't still find coupons in the Sunday paper. Then again, one could probably dig into CUPS and find a rasterized version of the coupon - but again, that's only slightly better/easier than scanning. I guess it goes back to the whole DRM argument that's been plaguing the music industry for so long. There's always a way to beat any DRM system, but if the DRM system makes it enough of a pain, or the end result is comparable to that of systems that have been in place for years, then it's good enough for most people.

-Danbert

P.S. I have absolutely NO connection with any grocery stores, coupon system companies, or any related technology company. I'm just a someone who tries to save as much money as possible without wasting enough time to cancel out the savings.

I started using SmartSource.com before they offered Mac compatibility by using VPC.