Gift Cards

Michelle Cole in today’s Oregonian covers pending legislation in Salem addressing the issue of unused gift cards – y’know, those things that look like credit cards, with a specific dollar value to be spent at a store or restaurant. Things you give to people in lieu of choosing some physical item they might not want, that are less tacky than just giving money. Currently, some businesses build in an automatic discount to the value left on the card if it’s not used quickly. If a card holder tries to use it after too long of an interval, they can find there’s no money left to be spent.

There are two bills being considered by the Legislature. House Bill 2513: Prohibits businesses from selling gift cards that expire or lose value over time, has passed the House unanimously and is awaiting action in the Senate. Senate Bill 460: Prohibits expiration dates and monthly service charges on gift cards; treats gift cards as “unclaimed property” reverting to the state Common Schools Fund after three years. This hasn’t yet been voted on in the Senate; it would move to the House if it passes.

[A side note: Come on, Oregonian. I’ve been asking the City of Portland to put links on their Council Agenda post on line; surely a newspaper’s web site can do better? In this Fact Box, the numbers of the bills are referenced but not as hyperlinks. Maybe if government and the media made it easier for citizens to access actual information rather than summaries and spin, more people would read the proposals and understand them better.]

Businesses support HB 2513, oppose SB 460. So do I. You won’t read many rants here about gubmint extracting money from oppressed citizens, but SB 460 is over the line as even I draw it. When you give a gift, you don’t want anyone taking it away after three years, period. Not even they take it for a worthy cause like school funding. If a card is left forgotten in a drawer somewhere, it’s still the owner’s to find and use even after many years. Just yesterday, I tidied a stack of papers on a dusty shelf, and discovered a paper gift certificate from 1994. It’s for a nice restaurant, and, well, we’ve been busy. It doesn’t have an expiration date, and we’re going to try using it very soon. It was like finding a wad of cash in the pocket of an old coat – and that shouldn’t be claimed by the government for the schools, either.

The way it works now, unused cards are free money for the businesses selling them. Buyer’s/Recipient’s choice. Changing the beneficiary of credit from unused cards from the businesses to the State doesn’t help the owner of the cards much. Even though SB 460 allows a citizen to claim back their unused credit from the State if it’s been transferred there after three years, that doesn’t pay the bill for a person standing at the register at a restaurant carrying only the gift card they expected to cover it. Interestingly, SB 460 is sponsored by Senator Ben Westlund “at the request of Oregon PTA, Oregon School Boards Association, Confederated Oregon School Administrators, Oregon School Employees Association, and the Oregon Education Association”. Obviously, they want the money. But consider this:

One problem with both the current cards and the system proposed in SB 460 is that the expiration date of the card is hidden in the magnetic strip, rather than being printed clearly on the card. So there’s no way to tell whether the card you have in your kitchen drawer or wallet is worth anything, or not. Here’s a tip to get around that problem: buy your gift cards from local schools selling “Scrip”. Scrip is a fundraiser by which PTA volunteers sell gift cards and the businesses donate a percentage of the cost to the school. Businesses sell more cards, schools get the money from volunteer effort, everyone is happy. Everyone including the recipient/user, since the volunteers selling from schools don’t have the capacity to put expiration dates in the magnetic strip, so all the ones I’ve ever purchased haven’t expired. Check your local school’s web site to see if they sell Scrip – you’ll be helping the school, and likely buying a card that doesn’t expire either for your own use or if you give it to someone else. Here is Wilson High School‘s form, with phone numbers of the parent volunteers who sell it.

Scrip is a better, more honest way of having the purchase of gift cards support schools. Please consider contacting your State Senator to support HB 2513 and oppose SB 460. And buy Scrip at your local school!

Update: Important additional information from Senator Westlund’s Chief-of-staff in the comments.