To start with, I'm hazy about what function Groupon serves.  Is it a traditional coupon service, which simply allows businesses to price discriminate--selling their product expensively to the people who are pressed for time, and cheaply for those who can afford to spend their Sunday mornings clipping modest savings out of the local paper?  I think the answer is obviously not: Groupons offer fairly substantial savings for virtually no effort. 

Yet the discounting is fairly expensive for the Groupon offerer.  Take a typical $20-for-$40 worth of food restaurant deal.  As I understand it, the restaurant split ... Read more »