Expired Coupons

How to Send Expired Coupons To Military Overseas

UPDATE – We have a reader that is overseas and is requested expired coupons so you can go ahead and send them her way as well:

Crystal Rohrer
Cmr 427 box 3373
Apo, ae 09630

Most people don’t know this but overseas military members can use expired coupons for up to six months past expiration! Please don’t get intimidated as this is a very detailed explanation about how to do it and it is actually very easy to send your expired coupons out….I just wanted to make sure I covered everything about this great program!

I’ve received some emails from readers requesting some more information on it so I’ve done some research and here is some more info about it:

Eligible Coupons:

• Make sure and send only Manufacturer Coupons, not store specific or internet printed coupons.
• Make sure the coupons you are sending are not more than 30-60 days past the expiration (closer to 30 if possible especially if you will be sending them parcel post).
• You will need to clip the coupons and separate them into 2 different categories: Food and Non-Food items.

Label your Baggies

I use a baggie to separate the coupons and label them food and non food. Avoid using rubber bands or paper clips.

Tip on separating them…

Dog & cat food would be “Non-Food” because these cannot be consumed by humans. Something like Vitamins would be considered non-food as well because you would not eat these. Now things like candy, mints, gum, etc would be considered food. Just ask yourself, would you eat these?

Mailing Coupons

The cheapest way to ship your coupons is just through Parcel Post but if you are going to send them this way please make sure and send them within a month after they expire since it does take longer to get there. Shipping will cost the same as it does to send it to your neighbor since the bases are U.S. Territory.

How to mail them:

• Choose your way of shipping (parcel post is the cheapest) but there are priority FLAT RATE boxes so keep that in mind.
• Put the base address and your return address on the form.
• Fill out customs form 2976-A. This is easier than it sounds but you can just ask the post office worker what form this is and they will hand it to you. Then these are the numbers you will need to fill out and exactly what you’ll need to write in the boxes:

From
To
#1 write- “Manufacturer’s Coupons”
#2 choose – “Pkg”
# 4 write “$0.00″
#5 choose “Gift”
#9 write “$0.00″
#10 write “Return to Sender”
#13 sign & date

Where to mail them:

You can go here to choose a base that has “open adoptions”. Write down the information of the base you choose to adopt and then go here and fill out the “adoption form” (make sure and press tab not enter while filling out the form). Hit the enter key after filling out the form and then you can start sending your coupons to the base you chose!

Adopting makes it easier so you can send to the same base you adopted every time. They like to do it this way because they divvy up the coupons sent to each base so this way every base is getting coupons. Once you have your base adopted, you will be able to send your coupons there every month making it easier.