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Litchi Agency
More than 4.4 million employees benefit from meal vouchers in France.
Paid in part or in full by the employer, these tickets, which can reach nearly ten euros each, are a significant advantage for workers' food budgets.
However, their many constraints of use do not always allow them to be sold on time.
Each year, thousands of unused coupons expire.
What to do, then, with these bundles of outdated titles?
Free exchange
The validity of meal vouchers is in principle limited to the year in progress at the time of their allocation, with a tolerance for use which may vary between one and two additional months for the following year.
The first reflex is then to check the expiry date which is generally written on the back of the titles.
And holders of a dematerialized version are not immune to this count.
Indeed, if your restaurant card does not need to be renewed each year, the amount credited to it is however subject to the same period of use as paper checks.
In this case, the expiration date must be announced on the management platform of the dematerialized device.
Whether you have a notebook or a map in your pocket, the Labor Code allows you to exchange these old versions for the new vintage.
But beware of the timing.
The request must be sent to your employer within fifteen days of the expiration date of the titles.
The latter will then have to take them back from you free of charge.
Beyond this suspension, the value of expired tickets is lost for the employee.
However, if he returns them to his company, the latter will be reimbursed by the issuer and the sum will go to the works council or, failing that, to its social works.
Due to the health crisis, the government announced that the validity of the 2020 restaurant vouchers would be exceptionally extended until September 1, 2021, in order to support the purchasing power of restaurateurs.
Be generous
However, the rate of use of meal vouchers varies greatly depending on the consumption habits of employees.
While some spend them like hot cakes, never having any in advance, others sometimes accumulate several wads at home.
If these means of payment are not essential in your daily life, why not donate them to those in need?
Many charities do indeed accept restaurant tickets.
If you can make good use of your last titles in stock, this process can also be carried out throughout the year.
All you have to do is write the name of the beneficiary association across each restaurant voucher, then slip them into an unpaid envelope addressed to the desired work.
Even simpler, the operation can be carried out directly on the organization's website using the restaurant card.
Please note, the donation of expired securities must be made before a deadline which depends on each structure.
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Iconic collections
Before sending your meal vouchers by post, first make sure that the association accepts them and under what conditions.
Here are a few examples:
Action Against Hunger: since 2009, it has been organizing its “I already, I give” campaign in partnership with the Up group.
A voucher of 8 euros corresponds to two weeks of emergency nutrition for a child.
More than 87,000 children have been taken care of since the launch of the operation.
The French Red Cross: since 2002 it has joined forces with the transmitter Edenred for its campaign “Restore solidarity”.
Some 1.33 million euros were collected in 2019, of which 76% thanks to the restaurant ticket card.
The Abbé Pierre Foundation: for fifteen years, its “Titres Restaurant Solidaires” campaign has helped fund its actions with the most disadvantaged.
Secours Populaire and Les Restos du Cœur: they receive donations of paper and dematerialized vouchers all year round, to provide meals to people in need.
Note that each donation entitles you to a tax deduction corresponding to 66 or 75% of the face value of the restaurant voucher.
Purchasing power
Restaurant
Don
Company
Solidarity