> It's not even nice for your actual customers who come the same day and pay the full price just to discover that they got screwed because they could have paid

> It's not even nice for your actual customers who come the same day and pay the full price just to discover that they got screwed because they could have paid half by going to groupon. Precisely. I went to a burger place in SF the other day and the line was 20 people deep, all paying with Groupons. The restaurant's price was already relatively high, so I felt annoyed at having missed out (even though I was planning on eating there anyway.) I think it may be detrimental to run ridiculous coupon deals ever -- if you have ever given away (or basically given away) your product, then people that know about that recalibrate the 'real cost' of it to that. This is especially true, I'd wager, in places that 'seem like' they should have a high margin anyway (like tours, or spas, or other more service-oriented places.)