A pennysaver (or free ads paper, Friday Ad (British English or shopper) is a kind of free community periodical available in North America (typically weekly or monthly publications) that advertises items for sale. Frequently pennysavers are actually called The Pennysaver (or Penny Saver, Penny-saver, PennySaver). Many pennysavers offer local news and entertainment, as well as generic advice information, various syndicated or locally-written columns on various topics of interest, limited comics and primetime TV listings grids in some papers. The term is widely used in an arc from Ontario through New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, though there are Pennysavers elsewhere.
Usually containing only classified ads, they are often grouped into an extensive set of categories. Pennysavers may also be published by the locally dominant daily newspaper in the area as a brand extension of their publication, and feature advertisements published in the same style as the parent newspaper.
History
Horace Greely and Ralph St. Denny founded the Pennysaver in Ohio in 1948. Then the Chenango Valley Pennysaver in 1949 (published continuously to this day). Horace bowed out, but Ralph stayed on to become nationally known as an innovator, mentor, a pioneer and a true original, until his retirement in 1995.
There are a number of independent and unrelated organizations that use the name Pennysaver.
In popular culture
The Pennysaver plays a significant role in the 2007 Minnesota-set film Juno, in which the main character searches for adoptive parents for her unborn child in the publication.
The Pennysaver is also mentioned in an episode of "My Name is Earl," titled "Bullies." A man Earl is attempting to cross off his Karma list mistakes Earl as a man "from the Pennysaver ad."
References
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