Sweepstakes with drop-in boxes are a great way to win some nice local promotions! You can find them at various grocery stores, drug stores, mall stores, and other places. You have a good chance of winning local promotions because they are advertised less than national promotions, and they are generally open to a very specific regional area. Always enter these when you find them!

For national sweepstakes, however, we're finding that many of the drop-in boxes aren't being taken care of properly. Too many times, we hear that drop-in boxes are being displayed on counters well AFTER the deadline, and sometimes even after the drawing has taken place! It's up to the store managers to properly train their staff to handle the national promotions, but sometimes this isn't done too well.

We suggest for national promotions (large name brand, open to US, mail-in entry available, and so forth), that you send the majority of your entries in through the mail. You should still put some entries into the drop-in boxes, but you also might want to go back to the store as the deadline gets closer to see how the box is being handled. You can even be proactive and ask someone at the counter what the last day is to get your entry in, and when they plan on picking up the entries and sending them in, and so forth. Sometimes a gentle reminder can be the difference between getting the drop-in boxes sent in on-time and the heart-sinking feeling you get when you see the drop-in box still there after the deadline.

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