Planning to get a gift card for someone? Give cash. Got one? Spend it asap.
Posted by aunt mommy on 03 May 2008 at 09:00 pm | Tagged as: mundaneities, politics, works for me wednesday
Normally, I am a huge fan of gift cards. This is teacher appreciation week, and I’m racking my brain looking for a little something to contribute. I hadn’t planned on gift cards, but I’ve not yet come up with something. Probably baked goods and/or a veggie/fruit plate for them to nosh on.
However, considering the way things are kind of going a bit off of the deep end economy wise, that gift card in your wallet may just turn to dust:
Brian Riley, senior analyst at research firm The TowerGroup, estimates [Linens’n'Things filing for bankruptcy protection] will freeze about $42 million in consumer gift cards, affecting about 400,000 customers. Gift cards become valueless when a company files for bankruptcy protection.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080502-1211-linensnthings-bankruptcy.html
Go find something you need, need to replace, or need a backup for. And don’t buy gift cards off of people that they “aren’t going to use” unless you’re sure the store is still accepting cards.
I know this is saturday, but I may repeat it for WFMW. It qualifies as something I probably will learn the hard way. I’m sure I’ve gotten short changed on these cards before … I’ll just link this.
Nice writing style. I will come back to read more posts from you.
Susan Kishner
Great post. I work for a company that manages and tracks gift cards. We blogged about this issue a few days ago on savvywallet.com. I read the same report about the $42M in gift cards that will be affected by the LNT incident. Bankruptcies have been popping up everywhere. One thing to consider: Last year we spent $100B on gift cards, and $8B was lost/ unclaimed. It’s amazing to see the numbers. 2008 will an interesting year. 5+ companies have filed for bankruptcies and they all hold gift cards. My advice? Spend them as soon as we get them.
Thanks for stopping by, Austin. I checked out your site - frequent flier miles might go the way of the dodo too? Good point. I’ve got 13 years worth of semi-frequent travelling points and spending points accrued. Might be high time to cash them in.
… and not for gift cards ;).
[…] wrote earlier in the week about the use it or lose it aspect of gift cards as more and more retail establishments fall into […]
HA! True, it’s just shaky times. It’s almost too foolish to think companies will honor our points, our gift cards, our points, when they are struggling with making ends meet, paying their employees, and trying to stay a float. A trillion miles unredeemed? 13 years? spend it now!!! Just don’t get the magazines!