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). They usually contain classified ads often grouped into an extensive set of categories. Many pennysavers also 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. Pennysavers are sometimes published by a locally dominant daily newspaper as a brand extension of their publication and featuring advertisements published in the same style as the parent newspaper.
Horace Greely and Ralph St. Denny founded the Pennysaver in Ohio in 1948, followed by the Chenango Valley Pennysaver in 1949 (published continuously since then). Greely bowed out, but St. Denny stayed on to become nationally known as an innovator, mentor, a pioneer and a true original, until his retirement in 1995.
A number of independent, unrelated organizations use the name Pennysaver.
The Pennysaver plays a significant role in the 2007 film Juno, in which the main character, Juno, searches for adoptive parents for her unborn child in the publication.
The Pennysaver is mentioned in a season four 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". Pennysaver is also a reoccurring element earlier in the series in an episode titled "Didn't Pay Taxes".
In the HBO series True Blood the fictional Louisiana town also has a local Pennysaver. In the season 3 episode, "9 Crimes", Sam places an ad for a waitress in the Pennysaver.
In an episode of The Game, produced by Kelsey Grammar, Pennysaver is mentioned in an argument between the two main characters.