Gift card heads up

[yendi]

It's not news, but this NY Times story makes the risks involved in giving/getting retail gift cards pretty clear. I generally prefer only getting Amazon gift certs (I spend them fast enough, I'll always want something there and there doesn't seem to be a bankruptcy on the horizon there), and Shaw's (or Stop and Shop) gift cards, where we'll spend money every week, and the card is, for all intents and purposes, as good as cash.

Comments

[aiela.livejournal.com]

Michigan just passed a law that makes all gift cards sold (used? not sure) in the state good for five years without penalty.

I hope more states start doing that.

[litch.livejournal.com]

giftcards: all the warmth of cash, none of the convienance

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

What happens if the store that sells them goes out of business?

[aiela.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm not sure the article mentioned that, to be honest. Someone posted it on the board here at work.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

It's one of the issues that's coming up right now with so many stores closing locations or going away entirely, like Linens N Things. When I was in the other day (for the discounts and the bonus schadenfreude) there were signs all over saying they couldn't honor gift cards anymore.

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Walmart is probably pretty safe, and you can get lots of different types of merchandise there (books, DVDs, clothing, video games, etc.) Grocery store certificates people can always use immediately, so those are probably safe too. This year, that's all I'm sticking with.

[ckd]

The Massachusetts gift cards/certificates law is pretty good IMO (7 year expiration without penalty). As others have noted, though, recently a major problem with gift cards has been stores going out of business...and bankruptcy generally wipes out the gift card value instantly.