The entertainment book has been around for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, we could buy them at our school, and you could also sell them as a student to help fundraise.
Before cashback and discount apps like Ibotta, Dosh and Rakuten, there was the Entertainment Book, the ultimate coupon book.
I remember going to dinner with my parents and mom, bringing back the torn squares from our entertainment book for discounts on our dinner. Most restaurants in St. Louis, Missouri had great deals, even the most expensive ones.
What is an entertainment book?
Hughes and Sheila Poticker founded Entertainment Publications in 1962. First it was a coupon book for local produce in the Detroit area.
Since then, it has expanded into 150 markets and has continued to grow for the past 48 years. They now offer discounts from 60,000 different sellers and have several different ways to use the offers in the book, including online coupons and a membership card.
When you buy an entertainment book, it will be tailored to the offerings in your city (and surrounding areas). If you don’t use the app with a book, it will update suggestions based on your location.
How much does an entertaining book cost?
You can purchase various types of memberships.
The first is the book pass, which costs $ 9 for the entertaining book itself – and nothing else. Coupons are valid until the end of the year with an annual new coupon book.
Then there is the digital membership, which is $ 2.99 per month or $ 19.99 per year (which is included with your book purchase).
What is included in the membership?
You can save up to 50% on your day to day activities by purchasing both the book and the e-membership.
The book membership is tailored to your region, but with a digital membership, you get access to all the US and Canada cities on offer, saving you wherever you go. When you buy a book, your digital membership is automatically turned on. However, the book is not included with the digital membership, so your best bet is to buy the book and get everything you need (including the membership card).
Categories of proposed savings
The savings categories you’ll see in the book have not changed much in recent years and include:
- sights: This category includes everything and everyone related to amusement parks, museums, movie tickets, golf, bowling, ice skating, theater performances, quests, haunted houses, rock climbing, trampoline parks and more. You can even find discounts for completely free admission.
- Car care: Car care is expensive, so I love that they have this discounted category. You will find offers on services such as oil changes, tire rotation, inspection and everything you need when it comes to car maintenance and repair.
- FoodstuffsA: Yes, the book even includes coupons for grocery shopping. Use them at your favorite local grocery stores. If your favorite store isn’t listed in the book as one of their sellers, try using a competitor’s store from the book and the store might honor him. It doesn’t hurt to give it a try – try it with any of these categories.
- Furniture: You can find coupons for sets for dining room, living room, bedroom, etc.
- Restaurants and dining room: From fast food to casual family dinners and even fine dining, dining and dining, this is one of the largest categories in the Entertainment Book. At least it was the only category that I remember in my family. In St. Louis, Missouri (my borough), the most popular in the book are Pasta House, Panera, Imo’s and others. Find restaurants in your area in a local book or app.
- Services: This category includes salons, gym memberships, spas, ophthalmology centers, and more.
- Purchase: For participating sellers, you’ll find coupons for shops in the mall, your favorite outdoor areas, select stores, and use the online shopping app to shop online. Shopping refers to any type of shopping, from makeup, beauty products and clothing to shoes, sports equipment, household goods, etc.
- Travel: Find discounts and deals on hotels, resorts, flights, car rentals, travel attractions and more.
My experience with the app
Some of the offers listed both in the book and in the app also include free ones. Be sure to read the terms of these deals. Then there are the deals so good that it’s almost like a gift card.
I had never used this application before, so I wanted to see how it differs from the book, so I downloaded it.
Savings categories available in the app (accessed via a ledger passcode or digital membership):
- Canteen: As in the book, you will find all the same offers for your local restaurants and will be able to access all offers in all cities in the US and Canada where the entertainment book is available.
- Trade services: Use the app to use the same suggestions from the book as well as shop online (or use it in malls while traveling to access savings that you also don’t see in your local book).
- Things to do: This category is similar to the category of attractions in the book and includes offers in gyms, kids gyms, movie tickets, football parks, and more.
- Travel: Their in-app travel tab is impressive and similar to using a site like Expedia where you can plan trips and get offers on hotels, car rentals, flights, cruises, group travel and more.
- Online offers: The Online Offers tab displays all of their online offers across all categories.
You can also use the search function in the app to find an offer that is hard to find when scrolling through the categories. In-app offers will change based on your location, besides the travel category.
Pros and cons
Like any product, there are pros and cons. An entertainment book is a great solution considering how much you will save over time by spending as little as $ 9 one time. But this is not ideal.
pros
The main advantages of the book and the Entertainment app:
- There are many offers that can be accessed from anywhere using the app.
- The travel deals are great and far better than any site like Expedia.
- Due to the book’s popularity, if you are using competitors’ coupons in stores that are not in the book, you can still get them to discount it by showing them to the store.
- You can track your savings in the app and the total amount you saved over time.
Minuses
Let’s talk about the cons:
- Be sure to read the details on the coupons and in the app. Not all outlets participate in the offer listed for their company in the book / appendix.
- The application often lags when loading.
- You cannot include a book with an in-app digital subscription. But you can get the app when you buy the book.
Is the entertainment book relevant today?
It’s a little crazy for me that I’m writing about a book that I’ve known for most of my life and that my family used religiously about when I was growing up. Since then, it has not lost its relevance either.
The only thing they didn’t have when I was a kid were apps, and with the addition of this and their travel planning features, I think the Entertainment Book and app are more useful than ever.
For only $ 9, it’s worth it.
Give it a try and let us know how much you will ultimately save.
This article originally appeared on The Money Mix and has been republished with permission.