Article dispensing – Concurrent separation and distortion of flexible article – With casing or support
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-25
2001-07-31
Noland, Kenneth W. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
Concurrent separation and distortion of flexible article
With casing or support
C206S812000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267263
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to coupon dispensers such as used by suppliers to grocery store retailers for promoting their goods. More particularly, this invention is directed to coupon dispensers intended to be located close to the goods for which the coupons are distributed—typically on the same shelf or display stand as the goods—and therefore referred to as “point-of-purchase” dispensers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are primarily two types of point-of-purchase coupon dispensers, namely, coupon pads and refillable dispensers. A stack of loose coupons may also be placed on a store shelf or on a counter. Loose coupons and coupon pads are inexpensive but can be inefficient because customers often take several coupons at a time and throw away all but one, which is destructive of coupon marketing programs. Loose stacks of coupons can become messy and coupon pads are often unattractive, especially after prolonged use. Reusable coupon dispensers are constructed to discourage customers from taking a large number of coupons at a time. However, reusable dispensers are costly and require surveillance by retail store personnel to determine if they need to be refilled or require maintenance. They are also time-consuming because someone reasonably skilled must take time to refill them.
Coupons are often turned in at a check-out counter to enable the purchaser to obtain a reduced price for the goods. This can create the familiar problem that the check-out cashier has to take time to verify that the goods for which the coupon is issued are, in fact, being purchased by the customer who presents the coupon. Many customers must rummage among a stack of coupons to find a particular coupon to be used. All of this activity can be a source of delay and irritation for check-out cashiers and for those waiting in a check-out line during the coupon redemption processes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide an attractive, inexpensive coupon dispenser which does not require refilling or maintenance, as with more expensive reusable dispensers, is easy to use, and will discourage customers from taking a handful of loose or padded coupons. Another object of this invention is to provide a coupon dispensing system by which customers need not search for coupons for goods purchased and by which check-out cashiers can immediately determine that the product to which a coupon applies is being purchased.
A coupon dispenser in accordance with this invention comprises a pop-up dispenser box that houses a stack of small sheets which have a lightly aggressive, repositionable adhesive. The dispenser box is provided with a flexible plastic cable tie for mounting the dispenser box on a wire rack, retail store shelf, or a cardboard display. The POP N JOT dispensers for 3M's POST-IT note sheets marketed by 3M Company of St. Paul, Minn. are good for this use, the POST-IT sheets being printed as coupons. The dispenser box is provided with a plastic stiffening plate, which may be injection molded but could be die cut from a sheet of plastic, and the plastic cable tie extends through pairs of aligned holes in the bottom of the box and the stiffening plate. The stiffening plate is secured, at least in part, against the inside bottom of the box by the cable tie but a suitable adhesive may be used instead.
In use, a box which has been prefilled with POST-IT sheets printed as manufacturer's coupons is supplied to a retailer who attaches the box by the cable tie to a wire rack, a retail store shelf, a cardboard display or other suitable support, and cuts off the excess end of the cable tie. Customers can remove the coupons one-at-a-time and affix them by their adhesive backing to the product for which the coupon is redeemable. A check-out cashier can, therefore, immediately determine that the purchaser is purchasing the product for which the coupon was issued. When the dispenser box is emptied, the retailer can simply remove it by cutting the cable tie and dispose of the box and the attached cable. The dispenser box can readily be replaced by another dispenser box of the same construction.
In a first modification, a dispenser box with a plastic stiffening plate, as described above, which may optionally be provided with a cable tie as described above, is provided with a conventional plastic or other shelf clip connected by rivets (not shown) or by other means, such as screws or glue, to the bottom of the dispenser box.
In another modification, the coupons have a tear line adjacent the margin of the adhesive so that, in use, the customer can adhere the adhesively-coated portion of the coupon to the product to which the coupon applies. At the check-out counter, the cashier tears away the remainder of the label along the tear line. The torn-away portion, which is used by the retailer to redeem the coupon, will be easy for the check-out cashier and others to accumulate and handle. Also, the face of the sheet opposite the adhesively-coated portion may have advertising matter which the customer would take, because adhered to the purchased product, when leaving the retail store.
In any one or all of the above embodiments, a blinking LED could be housed within the dispenser box in alignment with an opening in the wall of the box to bring added attention to the dispenser box.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and claims and from the accompanying drawings.
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Advertisement published by Allegro Electronics Corporation, Fremont CA, admitted to be prior art.
Advertisement published by Ozen Sound Devices, Inc., New York, N.Y., admitted to be prior art.
See accompanying Information Disclosure Statement regarding admitted prior art coupon pads formed from self-adhesive note papers.
See accompanying Information Disclosure Statement regarding admitted prior art dispenser for self-adhesive note papers.
One page photocopy of four photographs dated Oct. 17, 1997 showing the prior art dispenser of Reference AU.
Sketch of coupon dispenser on sale during 1997.
Emoff Michael J.
Miller Mary Jayne
Dybvig Roger S.
Noland Kenneth W.
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