I seldom hold myself up to be a role model. Actually, the occasion of this writing is also no such attempt, but I offer my experience as proof that we need to strike while the iron is hot. Last week, while removing my insurance card from an infrequently used section of my wallet, I happened upon a winning game piece from McDonald’s I had long ago forgotten about.

When I got out my Veteran’s card at the VA Hospital, I found the little winning ticket stuck to the back side of it. Then I remembered putting it in my wallet so the next time I was at McDonald's I'd have it right with me.

The small, adhesive-backed stub, part of a summer-long McDonald's Inspector Gadget Code Name Game™ contest, would have entitled me to a free medium soft drink during my next trip to any participating McDonald's. Upon closer examination of the game piece, however, I discovered that it had an expiration date of Aug. 15, 1999, meaning I had unwittingly missed out on my chance to cash in on the free-soda offer, an 89-cent value—by 8 years!

Now that I think about it, I can't recall seeing any Inspector Gadget signs at McDonald's or ads on TV for quite awhile now. I don't know how I could just forget about something like that, because I recall being pretty excited when I peeled back the winning game piece some time in June.

I remember the night I won that soda. I’d been over at Circuit City looking at TVs, and on the way back, I pulled into McDonald's (the one with the drive-thru) over on Morley Avenue. The first red light I got to after I pulled out, I picked the game piece off the side of my SuperSize Diet Pepsi and immediately saw that I’d won, but I already had a drink and didn’t really need another one, so I just put it in my wallet, their SuperSize Diet Pepsi’s are pretty good-sized.

I don’t know why I didn’t redeem my coupon, I know I had to have gone back to that McDonald’s a dozen times, at least. I just forgot, I guess. Maybe that’s why McDonald's makes those game pieces so small … they do it on purpose so that people will lose them, and then they don't have to give out the free stuff.

So, despite the game piece's expired status, I decided it might still be worth an attempt to redeem it. I cased the joint a little, singling out the cashier I believed to be the least experienced at this particular McDonald's. She was a pimply-faced little squirt named Amber. I ordered a Quarter Pounder and placed the piece on the counter. 16-year-old Amber promptly informed me that “the piece is like bogus, dude”.   When Amber offered to get the store manager, I declined and paid for my Quarter Pounder.  After unsuccessfully attempting a similar gambit at the West Frontage Road McDonald's in Columbia, I gave up and discarded the no-longer-valid piece. So much for contests, I guess, I usually keep better track of things.

Having missed my rare opportunity to “stick it to the man” I decided to clean out my glove compartment of my car, where I recall stashing some stuff. In addition to other expired game pieces, I found that I also possess many no-longer-valuable money-saving offers; four expired Hardee's coupons, a flier from last March advertising offering a 10% discount on a Pizza Hut lunch buffet, and a QuikTrip cash-register receipt, on the back of which is an offer good for $1-off a regular Tombstone Pizza with a fill-up at any QuikTrip gas station.

Yes, it’s sad but true, we can scrimp and save, but if we fail to act when the time is right, all our good intentions are cast to the wind and we are left with nothing but worthless paper. I beg of you, while there is still time… check those coupons.