Two decades of service

Drug Store News, April 5, 1993

National Coupon Redemption Service (NCRS) means maximum support, providing well-managed, professional service exclusively for retailers for over twenty-one years.

In 1970, the president and chief executive officer Leo Paul Koulos, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area's grocery industry, recognized a niche to fill: if retailers got coupon redemptions faster, their profits would improve.

By June of 197 1, Koulos arranged for a $50,000 loan and established San Francisco Coupon Clearing Service Inc. Several area grocers were so supportive of Koulos's new venture that they actually volunteered to delay redemption and hold onto coupons for as long as several months, just so Koulos could process them when he officially opened his new business.

For a short time SFCCS was a family shop. As SFCCS landed more retail accounts and largely through the best advertising of all - word of mouth - it became apparent that SFCCS was outgrowing its regional concept. Koulos kept SFCCS for Bay Area customers (the goodwill of that name was hard to let go) but added a national division (NCRS) and until 1986, the firm operated under two names.

The name change to NCRS was inevitable. It happened, recalls Koulos, after he made a proposal to a prospective client on the East Coast. When an executive from that chain called another colleague on the west coast to inquire about NCRS's track record, the colleague replied: "I don't know anything about this NCRS - but SFCCS is the best. You should go with them."

Today, there's no confusion about who NCRS is: National Coupon Redemption Service serves drug and grocery retailers in all regions of the U.S. Included among its clients are 13 of the top 35 drug store chains and six of the top 20 in addition to the U.S. Defense Commissary Agency World Wide.

Here's what their clients say

about them...

"We're very pleased with the company (NCRS). We've used other coupon services prior to using them - their price was better and their system seems to be much better. We've found them to be as trouble free as coupon redemption can be. They're very easy to work with."

"We've had a relationship with NCRS for several years. They have done an excellent job in the timely and accurate processing of coupons. We've been very satisfied with their service."

"We have done business with them in excess of 15 years. They have always made prompt payment and they are a very financially stable company. We've also done several checks - counted the coupons coming back - and now we only ship out by weight and accept their value."

"We've been dealing with them for over 16 years and their people are very easy to work with. They have done everything they could to have made their system and ours compatible, modifying their approach wherever necessary to satisfy us as the customer."