It looks like the only reason you shop at Bed Bath & Beyond in the first place might be disappearing: The company is reportedly in financial trouble because they’ve conditioned their customers to never pay full price for anything. 
 
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 I hate to laugh at the misery of others, but that rule flies out the window when it’s a Fortune 500 company with business practices that even I would have raised an eyebrow to. Seriously, what the hell did they think would happen? 
 
 Business Insider reports that Bed Bath & Beyond disclosed their troubles to investors and cited the fact that customers are so used to items being on sale or using coupons, that they’re happy to wait on a purchase until one of those things becomes available. 
 
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 Man, the day I discovered that those 20% off coupons never expire AND you can use more than one of those babies at a time, I never looked back. I specifically remember standing in line at the Bed Bath & Beyond on the Upper West Side and having a stranger tap me on the shoulder and warn me that I had no reason to shop at the store if I wasn’t using a coupon. 
 
 Bed Bath & Beyond will reportedly be scaling back on those coupons, which—yeah, good idea guys! Last week alone, I received two in the mail and another over email. Plus, I keep all the coupons that are still being sent to the former tenant in my apartment unit. 
 
 As Business Insider notes, brands that are associated with constant sales lose value to the customer, which sort of seems like something you’d learn in whatever MBA program Bed Bath & Beyond executives probably graduated from. 
 
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 If people were willing to wait until they receive an enormous coupon in the mail to buy a new bamboo cutting board, my guess is that they might also be willing to wait two days for an Amazon Prime shipment. Good luck to you, BB&B. 
 
 Contact the author at kara.brown@jezebel.com . 
 
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 Getty Images Bed, Bath and Beyond may be ditching its coupons, after realizing that the ubiquity of 20% off deals is backfiring for the company. 
 
 The retailer is now testing a beta version of its new "Beyond+" loyalty program. The program offers perks including free shipping and 20% off every entire purchase, for a membership fee of $29 per year. 
 
 The 20% discount is a familiar one for Bed, Bath and Beyond customers, thanks to the company's propensity for distributing 20% off coupons. The retailer's famous coupons have become a problem for the company — but a new loyalty program could end them entirely. 
 
 "If the test of the program is successful, it could usher in a time when BBBY stops or limits the distribution of its free coupons," UBS analyst Michael Lasser wrote in a research note released in late September. "But, that could have severe consequences." 
 
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 "Our coupon policy remains consistent, as we continue to believe that the Bed Bath & Beyond coupons are an important benefit we provide to our customers," Bed, Bath and Beyond said in a statement to Business Insider. 
 
 However, continuing the aggressive coupon strategy while expanding the Beyond+ loyalty program seems impossible. After all, why would customers pay $29 for something they could get for free? 
 
 Lasser notes that the new loyalty program demonstrates that Bed, Bath and Beyond "is experimenting in an effort to change its eroding fortunes." 
 
 While once coupons helped get customers in the door, Bed, Bath & Beyond's promotions have backfired for the retailer in recent quarters. Customers increasingly expect the 20% discount, and won't buy anything at Bed, Bath and Beyond unless they have a coupon. 
 
 The new Beyond+ program could provide Bed, Bath and Beyond a way to finally end a coupon strategy that is no longer helping the retailer, while still allowing customers accustomed to always taking 20% off their orders to continue to do so. 
 
 REUTERS/Keith Bedford 
 
 In September, Bed, Bath and Beyond hinted that it was looking to adjust its couponing strategy. 
 
 "The coupons critically — it's always been an important part of our value proposition, but at the same time we're committed as an organization to smarter, more intelligent marketing, personalized, targeted, being more meaningful and being more efficient," Bed, Bath and Beyond CEO Steven Temars said in a September call with analysts. "We need to be working and we are working on becoming a lot more intelligent about our marketing and making it much more personalized." 
 
 While the Beyond+ test is still small, it reveals a company that is increasingly trying to ditch coupons, at least in their current form. Basically, it is time for customers to stop assuming that they will always have a 20% off coupon handy — soon, the discount may cost you $29 every year.
– If you're like a lot of Americans, you probably have a pile of 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupons sitting on your entryway table, and you're likely also aware that, despite having an expiration date printed on them, they actually never expire and you can usually use more than one on the same shopping trip. And yet, the home goods chain apparently believes people will want to pay $29 per year in order to get a 20% discount on all their purchases (and free shipping if they order online). "The coupon is clearly and has been strongly associated with us," said the chain's CEO on a recent earnings call, per the Wall Street Journal. "But really, we need to be working and we are working on becoming a lot more intelligent about our marketing and making it much more personalized." BB&B launched the subscription program, called Beyond+ and currently available by invitation only, last week. (The Consumerist has a screen shot.) Ultimately, it hopes to move away from paper coupons, which, as the Journal notes, have been "squeez[ing] the retailer's margins for the past 15 quarters." The retailer hopes Beyond+ will improve those margins while increasing customer loyalty, but some analysts say it will be difficult to wean customers off the coupons they've come to expect. For example, one BB&B shopper tells the Journal she was recently able to use coupons for the store that technically expired in 2004, and that she wasn't interested in the membership program: "I don't buy a ton of stuff there and when I do, I have my coupons." One analyst tells Business Insider that if BB&B stops coupons entirely, there could be "severe consequences." (Remember what happened when JCPenney tried to get rid of sales?)