So Sophie,

Every coupon I've ever cut has claimed to have a cash value of 1/20 of one cent. Why did they pick this uniform value? And if I collect up 2000 coupons can I turn them in for a dollar?

-Cost-conscious coupon clipper

Hey Cost-conscious

ost paper coupons do, in fact, have a cash value printed on them. It's not just the ones that you've managed to collect. Straightdope.com says the following about this:

Coupons are given a cash value in order to comply with laws in a few states that classify them with trading stamps. As I assume you know, the cost of trading stamps to the merchant is always incorporated into the price of his merchandise. Since you're paying for them whether you want them or not, some jurisdictions require that the stamps be redeemed in cold cash if the customer so demands. Coupons are a little different than trading stamps, of course, but the law is the law. The cash value is set high enough to be legal, but low enough so that nobody will actually bother to collect the things.

I have no idea why all of them seem to be picking 1/20 of one cent, though. I think that 1/25 would have been a good number, also. But I am not a coupon manufacturer and they haven't written in here yet to see what I think about things, so they're most likely going to continue with what they've got.

You will notice, however, that coupons commonly printed off various web sites typically have no cash value whatsoever. This is because the Internet is useless and no one cares anything about e-commerce. In theory, you also do not pay anything to look at a web site and therefore are not helping to pay for the cost of coupon production. I think that this assumption might be faulty, if you account for the fact that the majority of people have to pay something for Internet access and that the increased price of goods and services necessitated by the money-saving offer itself are actually subsidized by customers and viewers of these ads. Just think of the amount of money you could make if you had some sort of counter on your computer that would tally the number of unsolicited ads you've seen and send a notice to a central computing authority telling it that you had money due. This is a good idea, now that I think of it, and I think I'm going get on developing it right away. But I digress.

It would seem that, if you were really determined, you could actually collect 2000 paper coupons and turn them in for a dollar if you happen to live in an area in which the statute applies. Do you? I don't know. I suggest you contact a legal professional in your area and verify. Perhaps he would let you pay in coupons. Do you really have the kind of time it would take to cut out that many coupons? Have you thought about the fact that it would take you more money to buy enough circulars to amass that many coupons than you would ever earn by cashing them in? This is not an efficient method of making money. Your time is better spent picking up empty pop cans that you find on the side of the road and in garbage cans and cashing them in at the recycle center.

So Sophie,

Where do swans come from? Are they indigenous to North America? Were they brought over here by settlers? What are swans like, anyway?

-Just wondering

Hey Wondering,

t seems that swans are native to pretty much every continent, although there have been some species transported by humans over the years. The orange-billed white trumpeter swan, Cygnus buccinator, seen in parks, is the mute swan, of Old World origin. It breeds in the wild state in parts of Europe, Asia and the United States. During the breeding season it has a trumpet-like note, softer in the tame birds. The whistling swan migrates from the Arctic to Mexico. Conservation measures saved the almost extinct trumpeter swan of North America, the largest species. Wild species in Europe include the whooper (or whooping) and the Bewick swans. The black swan, Chenopis atrata, is native to Australia, and the black-necked swan, Cygnus melancoriphus, to South America. The black swan has been domesticated. Swans are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Anseriformes, family Anatidae.

Swans appear to have fascinated humans for centuries, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of stories and myths about them in local folklore from all over the world. You're in good company wondering about them.