D. Coupon Expiration 23. According to the Act, coupons issued under this program are to expire three months after issuance. Accordingly, NTIA proposed to print an expiration date on each coupon and proposed that the expiration date be three months after the coupon’s issuance date. NTIA defined issuance date as the date upon which the coupon is placed in the U. S. mail. 24. Although commenters agreed with NTIA’s proposal to print an expiration date on the coupon, many thought that the proposed expiration date of three months after the coupon’s issuance should be extended. The time that commenters suggested the date be extended varied from three to ten days after issuance to take into consideration such matters as the rural location of the consumers, homebound or disabled consumers, slow mail delivery and coupons lost in the mail.[ 56 ] 25. As stated above, the Act requires NTIA to issue coupons that expire three months after
issuance. NTIA believes that three months is reasonable and allows ample time for consumers
to receive and use the coupons. The expiration date will encourage consumers to use coupons
promptly and will permit NTIA to use funds from expired coupons to issue coupons to other
households. Accordingly, NTIA adopts a rule that coupons will be issued with an expiration
date of three months after the issuance date. Three months will further be defined as 90 calendar
days to provide a uniform redemption period for all coupon recipients. The issuance date will be
the date the coupon is placed in the U. S. Mail. [ 56 ] Susan Stanke Comments; Richard Brittain Comments; AARP Comments at 10; Best Buy Comments at 3; RadioShack Comments at 9; Sunbelt Multimedia Co. Comments at 11. See also Ralph L. Mlaska Comments (coupons issued in first 6 months of the year should expire in December; coupons issued in the last 6 months should expire in July of the following year); George McLam Comments (program should last all of 2009).
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