Hi Train Riders! Can't believe this four-day holiday is zoooooming by so fast. Here it is Saturday already.

:
Unfortunately, now I've got to get a little grouchy.

We need to be more careful about checking our coupons for expiration dates before we send them on to our train buddy. My rule of thumb is never send anything that expires in less than a week AFTER your train buddy receives it. That is the very bare minimum and longer than a week is actually better. Example: If you skip Dec. 1 (which I think many of us will) and wait until Dec. 8 to mail, none of the coupons you send should expire before Dec. 18. Why? Because it takes on an average of 3-4 days for the USPS to deliver it to your train buddy. They won't receive your envie until approximately Dec. 10, 11, or 12. Many people can't get to the stores within a day or two after receiving the coupons. We have to allow some time for them to look through them, organize, and then use them. If you can send coupons that don't expire for 2-4 weeks that is even better!

What to do with those nearly expired coupons? I can PM you the name and address of two military families overseas that would LOVE to have your expired coupons. They can use them six months beyond their printed expiration. It costs no more to mail them an envie than it does to mail within the U.S. Let me know if you're interested in helping them out in this manner.
Now having complained a little in the above, I fully realize many/most of us are extremely careful about checking our expiration dates and I want to give those of you who do that a round of applause and a hug if I could reach you.

You're da greatest so sincere thanks!
Now just a few more reminders and I'll get off my soap box.

Monday, Dec. 1, is an optional day to mail to your train buddy. Instead of mailing that day, maybe we should go through our coupon banks that we plan to send and make sure the expirations are after Dec. 18. Dec. 8 is our next required mail date. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post when you mail out and when you receive your envies so no one is wondering and not knowing what's going on. To those of you who always do that, ANOTHER BIG round of applause~~again you're da greatest!
We have a couple new train riders

joining us on Dec. 8. I'll be PMing a few of you with a new sender and/or a new receiver of your coupons. As always, thanks for your understanding and cooperation when we have to make a few switches in the order of our train cars.
Okay, I'm done now and will be quiet for a while.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving leftovers and have a fabulous weekend. We're going Christmas tree hunting in a little bit.
