(BOSTON, March 28) - Thrifty shoppers around the country are beginning to worry that one of their most valuable money-saving tools - double coupons - may be headed for extinction in the wake of an announcement by Ralphs supermarket that it will be dropping the popular promotion on April 1 in Southern California.

That move comes on the heels of Kroger discontinuing its double and triple coupons program in most of its Texas stores just six months ago.

"The worry is that other supermarket chains around the country will follow Ralphs' and Kroger's lead, since this is such a copycat industry," commented ConsumerWorld.org founder Edgar Dworsky. "With the economy so tight, many shoppers count on the extra savings that double coupons provide to help stretch their food dollar."

Double coupon programs started as far back as the 1980s and vary regionally. Some stores double the value of coupons only up to 50 cents, while others cap the offer at 99 cents. Some chains offer double coupons only on certain days of the week, only occasionally, or not at all.

Shoppers are not sitting still while chain stores eliminate their cherished savings tool. There is already a website on the scene, BringBackDoubles.com, and even a Facebook page of the same name that are trying to rally opposition.

Various explanations have been offered for the move away from double coupons, including that it is a costly promotion to maintain, new promotions to save money on gasoline will be more popular, and that some "extreme couponers" exploit the policy by getting hundreds of products for next to nothing.

Consumer World notes that long ago supermarkets figured out how to limit the cost of double coupon programs. Manufacturers and stores cleverly tailor their coupon offers and programs regionally, often to just miss the dollar cutoff for allowing the coupon to be doubled. For example, in regions where supermarkets only double coupons with a face value of up to 99 cents, most of the coupons distributed in the area are for $1 or more. This not-so-coincidental smoke-and-mirrors practice allows stores to tout that they offer double coupons, when in reality, few coupons actually qualify for doubling.

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