iPhone app Coupon Sherpa free on Earth Day

The makers of an iPhone app that lets coupon users skip the paper are giving it away free for Earth Day.

Wed, Apr 22 2009 at 8:51 AM EST

Today only, Earth Day of course, the Coupon Sherpa app for iPhone is free. It usually costs $1.99.

The purpose of Coupon Sherpa is to be able to have instant access to store coupons without having to print them out, saving paper. Let’s say you’re driving by a Barnes & Noble. You remember that you’ve been wanting to pick up a copy of Mark Bittman’s Food Matters because you read my fabulous review of the book and you thought, “I need to read that!”

From your iPhone you can search to see if Barnes & Noble has any online coupons at the moment and you find that there is a 10 percent off coupon. You can show the coupon on your iPhone screen to the cashier, and supposedly the coupon can be redeemed.

I was a little skeptical about this so I called the local Barnes & Noble and spoke with the manager. What I was told was that they have received no word from corporate that they have approval to participate in Coupon Sherpa. However, since the coupon has a code to punch in, they would be able to accept the coupon from the iPhone and probably would as a courtesy to the customer.

There is no guarantee that any of the stores included on Coupon Sherpa will accept the coupons from the iPhone. Since it’s free today, you’ll lose nothing by downloading it, and it has the potential to save you quite a bit of money.

Currently, the app has some restaurant coupons but does not have individual grocery coupons. If the makers could find a way to bring all of those coupons together in one paperless iPhone app, I’d pay good money for that.

Here are the benefits of Coupon Sherpa, according to their own website.

Coupon Sherpa gives users easy access to two types of coupons.

1. Exclusive Coupons - This application features coupons from many retailers that are exclusive to Coupon Sherpa users. Show these coupons to at checkout to receive the discount.

2. In-Store Coupons from the Internet - The Coupon Sherpa staff scours the internet daily to conveniently bring you the best in-store coupons. Find a coupon you would like to use by searching for the store name or category, then show it on your iPhone at check out, or email it to yourself to print out later.

Use Coupon Sherpa once and you’ll likely make your money back and impress your coupon-clipping mother-in-law.

FEATURES

- Hundreds of in-store coupons

- Find coupons by category or store name

- Email coupons to friends

- Create your own Favorites list of stores

- Find the nearest store

- Exclusive coupons that can’t be found elsewhere

- New coupons added daily