Gift Cards -- Hidden Ripoff

Everyone knows that credit cards love to rip off people with fees, rules, high interest rates, and courtesy checks. I've seen too many specials on 60 minutes and Frontline on this. My problem is that too many people are ignorant or just don't care. i know many people who are ok with 25% interest simply because the payment is low. It doesn't matter that a 150$ item might take 15 years to pay off.

Anyways, did you ever think that gift cards were bad? This is the new fad, a failsafe gift for any occasion. Well, I hate gift cards, some more than others. What if I said to you, "Loan me 100$, and I will pay you back some of it at some point, no interest. If you forget to ask for it back, I will too." You'd say I am crazy, right? Well last year we spent $35 billion on them. Every card had the following properties:

• No interest paid
• Might have sat around before getting used
• Might have been lost or forgotten
• Might have been tossed after balance was less than a buck
• Might have had a fee to get it or after inactivity

Why the hell would you do this? The stores and card issuers are raking in extra money, all for printing plastic cards that are not treated the same as cash. If you saw a dollar on the ground, you'd pick it up. If you see a bunch of gift cards around the house, who knows what the value is.

We got a bunch for Christmas this year. One of them said it was worth $25 but said there was a $3.95 fee for having the card. I though "geez, the person who got it for us actually paid $28.95 for this" and was annoyed. Then I tried to use it at 2 places (declined), before getting smart. At the 3rd place, I said to the cashier, "run this for $21.05", ad voila! I was now even more pissed off than before. I really doubt the purchaser knew this fee was there, given the size and location of the fine print. And starting the card 16% below the purchase price seems like a dirty trick. If I get around to it, I want to complain to someone.

No matter what I say, I'm sure another 35 billion will be loaned to already fat retailers and banks. If you read this, think twice and just GIVE CASH or better yet, support support our country and buy SAVINGS BONDS.