While SmartCanucks has an active coupon trading section, I love attending local coupon swaps with other SCers. Some of them have become very close friends as we bonded over our coupons.
If you attend swaps, how do you arrange your swaps to make it fair for all involved? We each share our wish-list and participants put together packages for those they have coupons for and then share a ‘Free For All’ package that everyone is free to take what they wish from. That way our most prized coupons stay safely in our binders.
Pretty much the same thing. We all post wish lists. Some of us make envies for each other, but mainly we each bring boxes or bags full of coupons and just pass them around the table. That makes it fair and fun!
That sounds great. I’ve only traded with individuals, some local and some by mail.
Maybe someday we’ll be this cool.
I organized the very first downtown Toronto coupon swap, and there were only 3 of us at the time. Andit, Savegirl and myself… and now look at us, we’ve all become fast friends and I now look forward eagerly to our monthly meets. 🙂
and you still keep us very organized 🙂
ive never attended something like this. I dont even know what i would do.
I belonged to a coupon club about 25 years ago (for about 5 years until we moved and then I belonged to another one for a couple of years). Both had similar rules. Each had a carboard carton with non-expiring coupons (so nobody had to sort through them to find expired coupons) and it was on the honour system of take one/donate one. Everyone was really good about actually donating more if the value of the one they were donating didn’t match. The expiring box was value-for-value plus more (since they expire) and once/month, one of the members took the box home to go through and get rid of the expiring coupons. We’d all sit around and chat whilte going through handfuls of coupons (so take out a thick wad, go through that and exchange coupons, put it back, grab another wad). Obviously, you’d probably go through some of the same coupons and miss others. That’s why it was a coveted job to take the box home & go through it for expired coupons–you got to look through the rest. If you have greedy members, this might not work (someone would take all the good ones or cheat), but our groups were both great that. Most (if not all) of us would simply bring all the coupons we couldn’t use and add them to the box every month so the box’s contents simply kept growing.
Is there such a club in Ottawa?
Likely, check the local forum in our forums and ask – we have several in the GTA who meet monthly so I imagine Ottawa would too
Hey Sunraven, can you link me, or email me details about your coupon swap in Toronto. Sounds like something I’d love to attend.
-Nicholas ([email protected])