Email coupons

United sent me a $50 travel coupon by email, because I went and fetched our luggage from MSN rather than waiting for them to bring it to us.

I'm pleased, but I'm also unsure how to keep track of it; chances are good that next time I fly, I won't remember I have it.

My usual tracking system with paper flight coupons consists of burying them in the pile of papers on my desk, vaguely remembering that they're there, and digging them up when I need them (sometimes even before they expire); for example, I have a free-flight coupon from Northwest (?) (which I really should've used to go to WisCon, if I had remembered I had it) that was buried in the papers on my desk until I (probably) moved it into the bigger piles of papers on my floor, where I'll never see it again.

So that's a fine tracking system for paper, but how will I remember that I have the email one?

I got several email coupons for various Treo-related things a year ago when I bought my Treo, but I suspect they've all expired by now; I keep forgetting I have them. And my uncle got me an Amazon gift certificate last year that I also keep forgetting I have. Must come up with some better approach to this. Perhaps journaling about it will make me more likely to remember.

5 Responses to “Email coupons”

  1. Rilina

    You can deposit Amazon gift certificates in your account even if you’re not planning on using them right at that moment; the site will just give you the option of using the credit the next time you try check out.

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  2. Anonymous

    Hi Jed,

    A few years back I added a post it board to the wall next to the commode – I made it fancy cause I’m a girl and it has both push pins and criss-crossed ribbons so I have options on how to stick notes on it. I’ve found the TWO best places to keep strange coupon bits is the front of the fridge and right next to the commode where invariably a good bit of focused time is spent. This way I REMEMBER what’s on the board and remember to use it in a timely way, while at the same time giving my brain something to read or think about during those…moments.

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  3. Wayman

    I like anonymous’s suggestion!

    Relatedly, the Dutch keep small birthday calendars by the commode.

    I’ve had a gift certificate to Nifty Fifties for about seven years, which is too large to put in my wallet. But the only times I ever go there are when I happen to be in the neighborhood on errands…. So I guess the thing to do there is keep the coupon in the glove box. Huh, never thought of that before! Now if I can just remember that for the next couple hours….

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  4. David Moles

    Easy solution: Buy WisCon tickets! Buy WisCon tickets nOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW!

    (Okay, actually I’m not sure if you can get them that far ahead. But.)

    –D

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  5. Jed

    Rilina: Thanks! I didn’t know that; will have to try it.

    Anonymous and Wayman: Interesting. I think the flaw in that sort of plan for me is that I’m quite capable of forgetting what I was planning to do as I walk from one room to another…. So if the air travel coupons aren’t right in front of me when I’m booking the travel, I’m likely to forget I have ’em, even if I was just looking at them a few minutes earlier.

    David: I was on the verge of buying WisCon plane tickets the other day, but then I realized that I don’t know which days I’ll be traveling, and I don’t know if I’ll want to stop in Chicago for a few days before or after WisCon, or if I’ll try going through Minneapolis this time, and I don’t know if I’ll be heading onward to Alumni Weekend the next week, and so on. And unlike hotels, airlines charge a lot if you change your plans. Frustrating. Might still be cheaper to buy now and change later than to buy three weeks before the con again like I did this year, though. I’ll think about it some more.

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