Plastic Money Vanishes

During the early days of the 27-year gig we'd receive $100 in cash at the holidays.  That was nice.  Over time that changed to a check, adjusted to a net payment of $100 (the PR people hated that).  Finally it evolved to a $100 gift card.  My last gift card was received in DEC of 2012.  

This morning I was thinking about blog monetization.  Currently my efforts with the Amazon Affiliate program provide payment (little) via Amazon gift cards.  That reminded me to look for a few cards received for other purposes that I had put in an envelope last summer with the intent of using them for something meaningful.  At a point in life one does not really need much more stuff (i.e. George Carlin) so I probably should have somehow converted them to gas cards.

In the envelope was the 2012 holiday gift card for $100.  On the front was a sticker indicating that $2.50 per month would be deducted from the value each month as an 'administrative fee.'  That reduced the value to $70.  Then I noticed that the card had an expiration date of "11/20/14."  Today is 12/22/2014.  

Seven percent of all gift cards are never cashed and almost thirty percent have not been cashed after twelve months.  In the case of this gift card my former employer netted $70, assuming there were no fees on that side of the card, and that is unlikely.  The issuing back did quite well.  Retailers make sizable profits on unredeemed cards.

This is all sort of annoying.  Over the past few days I've been thinking about the Sony hack, the Target hack, the Home Depot hack, the mortgage crisis leading to the 2008 recession, the migration of car ownership to car leasing and the ever-increasing costs we pay to execute personal commerce.  Our small business pays 1/30th of our revenue each month just for bank card fees.  Why is it that I don't own any stock in banks or card processing companies?

Bottom line:  don't put expiration dates or processing fees on good will gifts. 

Update:  I also received a gift card a few years ago for a project that was completed "on time & on budget" which was and is a rare thing in the software deployment world.  All this thought about administrative fees made me think about that card and it was quite certain that I'd not used it.  After looking in all the logical and illogical places it was found.  It's value, too had been reduced by almost 30% by administrative fees.  

Debate:
My son gave me some Sonos equipment it's great.  I also do some chainsaw carving for which I already have more equipment and stuff than I need or use.  By 12/27/14 I'm going to decide whether to dump more plastic $$ into additional Sons equipment or another carving saw.  One keeps me inside and the other outside.  One provides some direct income and the other not.  The quiet option is good background for keyboard and monetization thoughts.