bcteagirl is starting a Canadian coupon train 🙂

Thanks for the dazzling idea bcteagirl 🙂 and sorry for stealing the title 😉

Click here for more info on bcteagirl’s train

If you don’t know what/how a coupon train works, families.com has a clear explanation:

A coupon train is a great way to get coupons you can use and pass along the ones you can’t use.

How does a coupon train work?

When someone decides to start a train, this person is called the Conductor. The Conductor will set all the rules for the train — name of the train, how many passengers, how many coupons, and what type of train it is going to be (see below for types of coupon trains). The Conductor will make a post in the Train Forum setting the rules, and if you are interested in joining their train, you will send them your NAZ and they will add you to the list.

Once the list has the set number of passengers, the Conductor will make up an envie of coupons and send them out to the first person on the train list, with an enclosed list of all the other passengers. When the first person on the train receives the envie, they will take out all the coupons they think they can use, and take out any expired coupons, or soon to expire coupons. Then they add any coupons they can’t use and send it off to the next person after them. This continues until the last person on the train sends it back to the conductor and the train is complete. Usually then the conductor will ask if all the passengers would like to go around again.

There are many different types of trains people create:

*Baby Train – This train only involves baby coupons

*Pet Train – This only involves pet coupons

*Non-Insert Train – This train only has coupons that are not found in the Sunday paper inserts

*Food Only Train – This train contains only food coupons

*Potluck Train – This is a train that has a little bit of everything.

There is also a Round Robin train, which is a bit more complicated, but a lot of fun. The way this works is the Conductor will gather a list of people who wish to join the train. The conductor will assign everyone a NAZ, and instead of just the conductor mailing out one envie to the first person, everyone will mail out an envie on a set date to the NAZ assigned to him or her. When you receive your envie from the person who was assigned your NAZ, you will take out the coupons you want, take out all the expired coupons, and add any coupons you don’t want and send it to your assigned NAZ. The result of this is everyone on the train will be receiving and mailing out coupons every couple days, as opposed to a regular train where it might take several weeks to make a round because it has to wait and go to each person one at a time.

If you are new to the whole coupon train idea, then I suggest being a passenger on a couple of them first, until you get the hang of how they work.

Click here to join the Canadian coupon train or ask bcteagirl questions regarding the coupon train