TILTS: Your coupon clipping days are over

I've decided to revive a category of blog posts I started long ago but then let fizzle. The category is Technology I'd like to see or TILTS for short. Blog posts under this categorization will detail technologies that I wish existed and that I believe could really improve people's lives. Well, at least they could improve my life. Each of these posts will be prefixed with the word "TILTS". This way, a quick search on the Noobie web site for the word "TILTS" will return every blog post in the Technology I'd like to see category.

Incidentally, if any of my readers decide to actually invent or produce these technologies, please remember where you got the idea from and at least invite me for a dip in the pool at your new mansion in Beverly Hills.

Stop wasting time clipping coupons

Today's technology is a universal coupon scanner. I'm talking about a little device that allows you to scan the UPC of every coupon in the Sunday paper. No more clipping coupons and alphabetizing them in a coupon box. Just a quick scan and you're done.

Each coupon is then stored electronically in the coupon scanner. The next time you head to the grocery store, just whip out your universal coupon scanner. Presumably you would then dock your universal coupon scanner into some device attached to the grocery store's computer. Don't press me for details, this is technology I'd like to see, not technology that exists, remember?

Once your universal coupon scanner is connected properly, the grocery store's computer and your universal coupon scanner would go to work cross-referencing every single item you purchased against every matching coupon stored electronically in your universal coupon scanner. Then, you guessed it, the matching coupons would automatically be applied against your grocery bill.

The beauty of this device doesn't end here. No, the universal coupon scanner would also take care of:

• Syncing with Internet sites that provide automatic coupon downloads based on your purchasing habits
  
  
• Automatically deleting expired coupons
  
  
• Automatically applying the coupon that gives you the biggest discount if multiple coupons apply to the same item
  
  
• Allow you to interface with another person's universal coupon scanner to exchange coupons
  
  
• And probably a lot more but since I'm not ever going to invent this, someone else can complete the list

So there you have it, a universal coupon scanner. What do you think?

Disclaimer: Technologies presented in the TILTS series are based on my original (and sometimes delirious) thoughts. I present them here to the public only because I can not afford to implement any of them myself. If you steal borrow one of my ideas and end up filthy rich because of it, please remember where you got the idea and throw a little love my way. Something like a BMW or a big fat check would do just fine.