by Beth Oliver

Created on: September 15, 2008

A coupon train is when a group of people fill an envelope with a pre-determined amount of coupons and send along. Think of it as a chain letter but as a goood thing! You take the coupons you need out and replace them with other coupons you have that you can't use and send it along to the next rider. I think coupons trains are a good thing but there are still pros and cons. I will focus on the top pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Excitment. Come on, I know I can not be the only person who enjoys getting mail that is not just bills, junk or credit card offers. It is a nice feeling to open the mail box and see the envelope filled with money. Well, not paper money, but coupons are another form of money.

2. Selection. A lot of coupons are regional so if you get in a train from all over the country, you will get a better selection. You may find coupons you have never seen or a higher dollar value than you are used to seeing.

3. Savings. In today's economy, we need to stretch every dollars as far as we can. Something as simple as trading coupons can go along way. That is all a coupon train is, trading coupons with a bunch of other people who like to save money too.

Cons:
1. Time. Coupon trains can be time-consuming. You have to cut the coupons, sort them and make sure you can't use them. You have to get an envelope, a stamp and get the letter to the mail on the designated day.

2. Expired. Enough said, most of us can not use expired coupons so they are useless to the majority of people. Remember most military familes can use expired if you wish to go that route.

3. Useless. While it is nice to get a great selection of coupons, it is useless if they are not coupons you can actually use. It's not a big deal when you are getting an envelope with 40 coupons and can use 20 but when that next envelope comes with 40 coupons and you can use 5, it is easy to question whether or not it is worth it.

I recommend going to a reputable site like www.afullcup.com to join a coupon train. They allow you to sign up for their site for free, create a wishlist and there is an entire forum of coupon trains! You can get into a train that makes sense for you. If you don't have pets, no point in being in a pet train. But for the newbie parents, a baby train makes sense.

Coupon trains are not for everyone, but if savings money and couponing is your hobby, give it a try. You might be surprised to find how worthwhile it is.

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