Diksha Sundriyal
Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste star in the crime-comedy, ‘Queenpins,’ as Connie and Jojo. They figure out how to make loads of money by selling coupons. It sounds too good to be true, and that is because it is an entirely illegal operation, even though Connie refuses to call it so. In the film, the women sell the coupons through a website and also spread the word through Jojo’s YouTube channel. Because the film takes liberties in telling the story, which is inspired by real-life events, the audience might wonder how the real-life Queenpins sold their coupons.
Savvy Super Saver is Modelled on the Real Coupon Selling Website
In real life, three women— Robin Ramirez, Marilyn Johnson, and Amiko Fountain- were found to be behind the illegal operation where they sold counterfeit coupons to people across the country. While they might not have had a YouTube channel, they did use a website named SavvyShopperSite.com to sell coupons. It was named after the coupon magazine Savvy Shopper, which had no connection to the illegal coupon-selling operation. Reportedly, the women used the name because they knew it would be a familiar name to their customers and hence make their business appear legitimate.
The website offered a variety of options to its customers, but it didn’t cater to just anybody. In fact, in its early days, referrals were the way to get coupons. The customers had to spread the word, and it was only if you knew someone who’d purchased from the website before that you could make a purchase yourself. People were also warned not to give out referrals to someone “without common sense.” Eventually, however, the website opened to customers without referral as well.
There was such a boom in business that the women, or at least Ramirez, made millions out of it. It turned out that the crowd for free coupons was larger than expected, and this led to the development of another level in the hierarchy. Reportedly, some of the customers started to buy coupons in bulk from Ramirez and then built their own websites to sell those coupons, which was apparently encouraged by the queenpins. One of them, Marilyn Johnson, also took the same approach and created her own website, amenglishmastiffs.com, to sell the coupons she got from Ramirez.
When the trio was arrested, the website was taken down and is currently defunct. The authorities warned the general public not to be lured by such coupon-selling websites, as that could make them accessory in the crime. It is expected that anyone who started their own coupon-selling website has also taken it down. If they haven’t, it is best to stay away from such websites and not buy anything that might sound too good to be true.
Read More: Queenpins: Is Advanced Solutions a Real Coupon Printing Company?
