Local company sends coupons to your phone with just a text

If you have a phone, you can keep more money in your pocket when you go shopping.  There's an Indianapolis company “stretching your dollar” with one of the simplest and most convenient ways to pay less.  

Wha-laa Coupons is a mobile savings website that knows convenience is important.

"99 percent of cell phones come out of the box texting enabled right now, so everyone in America can use our service,” said President Mike Gossett. “You don't need a smart phone, just one that texts."
 
Here's how Wha-laa Coupons works: If you see the Wha-laa sticker on the outside of a store, or even if you don't, you can text the name of the store to Wha-laa's number 44321.  Then, you'll get a text right back telling you what the deals are at that store, if there are any.  If there are, and they interest you, you just send back the same three-digit text they sent you.

"Our system is completely automated, so when it sees your three-digit return text, we have an auto responder to send you the coupon code itself,” said Gossett.
   
From there, you just show that code to the cashier and get the savings, sometimes up to $100 bucks.  It is free for the merchants and free for you to see the deals, but when you text back the code they sent you, it will cost money to receive the coupon code.
 
So, how much will this cost you?  If you're going to save more than $3, it'll be a 99 cent charge.  If you save less than $3, as you might on a lunch deal, the coupon only costs 25 cents.  You get billed at the end of the month on your phone bill.  And that's not a bad deal because on average you'll save about $8 per purchase, using this method.
 
You can even put Wha-laa's 44321 number into your contact list so you don't have to remember it.  Right now, Wha-laa only has about 100 local merchants, but they are hoping that will jump into the thousands as they are trying to partner with another Indianapolis company, Weblink International.  

"Weblink has relationships with 500,000 merchants nationwide,” said Gossett. “So we're trying to put together a partnership to offer our service to those 500,000 merchants, so everyone in America can text and save just like the people here in Indianapolis."

So, see if you can find savings where you shop or eat for free. Then, for less than $1, you can cash in.