Paper gift certificates - do people even use these anymore?

[bean]

Anybody actually use paper gift certificates anymore?

I got one today - my company has been using gift cards since 2000. It was from late 2000, shortly before they switched to gift cards.

During my training my trainer told me I'd never run into one and therefore saw no reason to show me how to tender one, so I had no idea how to cash it out. The supervisor on duty had no idea to cash it out. The store manager on duty had no idea how to cash it out, just knew it was possible because he'd had to honor one before a couple of years ago. Hell, the store manager on duty (one of our assistant store managers) was probably a freshman in high school when it was issued!

Whoever issued it never filled in the expiration date, so we had to honor it. Thankfully, our registers are menu driven (LCD VGA monitor built into the cashier side, with dynamic buttons along the side of the monitor), and I managed to find a gift certificate option after a couple of minutes of stumbling through menus.

I'm sure cashup is going to be scratching their heads when they open my deposit tomorrow, the person scheduled for cashup tomorrow has only been with the company a few years.

[AdamAnt316]

The manual aspect of the process is probably part of why you don't see them anymore, methinks. Cash cards are much more definite, since the expiration date and money amount is coded on the magnetic strip. Just press a few buttons, swipe the card, and presto.

Another part of it is likely legally-based. There have been lawsuits involving paper gift certificates and their expiration dates. As a result, most places I know of phased them out years ago, and extended the expiration dates of existing ones by several years. I once was given a paper gift certificate for a local bookstore as part of a scholarship. I didn't get around to using it until well after the original expiration date, but when I presented it at the store, they gladly accepted it. Because my purchase didn't exceed the original gift certificate amount, the remainder was placed on a standard gift card.
-Adam

[bean]

Even our gift cards don't have a real expiration date. On the back, they have the standard disclaimer about how if they're inactive for a set amount of time, a set amount will be deducted from them every month... but I've had people bring in 5+ year old gift cards and they still worked for their full face value.

And yeah, the gift cards are so much easier to deal with. Have the customer (or myself) swipe it at the card reader, hit the gift card button on the card reader (or on my register, it doesn't matter), and confirm the amount on the card reader. The register takes the available amount from the card if it doesn't cover it, otherwise it finalizes the transaction and spits out a balance statement.

And actually, the amount isn't coded on the strip with our gift cards, nor is it with any smart retailer (too easy to counterfeit them). Our gift cards go to the same authorization center that our credit/debit/check authorization goes to. Adds about 3-5 seconds to the transaction, but far less chance of fraud that way. Plus I know of zero customer-type card readers that can alter the magnetic strip to reflect a new balance on the fly.

[Bella_Vixen]

Where I work, all they have is paper GCs. There's only two stores in our company, and they find paper to be cheaper.

[Javarod]

Small mom & pop stores still issue paper gift certificates, as their really isn't a cheaper alternative for small quantities. Visa gift cards would be quite cheaper, prolly cheaper, but only ifn you got generic, which kind of defeats the purpose.

As to the reason everyone's moving away from them, its because they're very easy to counterfeit. The plastic cards in many cases are like a credit card, little more than a card number and maybe an expiration date are stored on the card itself, everything else is stored on the home office computer system, which makes it tamper proof.

[ReverendBSB]

In the state of Louisiana Gift Cards or Certificates never expire. State law. Companies cannot charge you upkeep fees on them either.

[CaroPhoenix]

The Gaming Store I worked at uses paper Gift Certificates. There's only 2 stores in the company, so it's cheaper that way.

However, there is a long drawn out process of at least 5 to 10 steps (considering if the person using the certificate got it from the Mother Ship Store or whatever).

I like the paper stuff. And the owner had us staple the gc to the receipt that the store keeps to see how quickly the things are used and whatnot.

Also, the gc's have a 1 year from purchase use date. I.e., if it's purchased June 6, 2009, then it expires June 6, 2010.

Usually they're used within like a week of getting them.

[fireheart]

Both the store I work at AND the mall I work in got rid of gift certificates years ago. Now they all use gift cards. The problem with THOSE however, is obviously cloning and using them as a means of getting rid of stolen card funds.
One thing that greatly pisses me off though, is that of prepaid Visa credit cards i.e. the reloadable ones, and the prepaid Visa gift cards. We don't accept them, but we have no signs to say this. We get customers who bring them in and attempt to use them and get pissed at us when our system rejects them. Honestly, we have NO way, NO way, of accepting those cards.
We also don't accept the mall cards, but my opinion on that one is this: there is a LIST of places that the gift card can be used at. Big Box Retailers do not accept them. With that rule in mind, try the 2000 other shops in the mall.

[Shpepper]

We still use paper GC's. There is only the one business for our company and since we don't do them all that often, It's not cost efficient to go to gift cards. A couple of months ago, I converted several of them to inactive status. The total for all that I converted was less than $1500.00.

Here in WA, Gift certificates and Gift cards can not expire. Also they can not have service fees taken off the card if it is not used in a specific amount of time.

[bean]

Both the store I work at AND the mall I work in got rid of gift certificates years ago. Now they all use gift cards. The problem with THOSE however, is obviously cloning and using them as a means of getting rid of stolen card funds.

This could potentially be a HUGE problem for my store. Reason being, if someone turns in a reloadable gift card (which is what we issue for store credit), we keep them and reuse them for returns.

I can see why we reuse them, especially since we're considered the "greenest" retailer in the US, and I've gotten some very well worn reloadable cards given to me. I've had one person go SC when their card came up with a zero balance, but they just said "Well why is there a sticker on it with x amount?!?!" (for all I know they could have wiped out the balance and never removed the sticker). I had my supervisor explain to them that we have no idea if they've used the card since they got it, and if there really is a problem, they'll need to take it up with the card issuer.

In Texas, service fees are allowed if a card is inactive. However, even though our gift cards have a notice printed on them saying we may deduct a fee for each month they're inactive, I've had several year old cards swiped that still had their full value on them. I don't think we actually deduct anything from inactive cards, it's more of a standard disclaimer.

[cinema guy]

The cinema still uses paper ones. They stopped having expiration dates on them a few years ago beacuse they are essentially cash.

[mattm04]

Around here only small stores usually only one location use paper cards.

[wagegoth]

In the state of Louisiana Gift Cards or Certificates never expire. State law. Companies cannot charge you upkeep fees on them either.

I think it's the same here in California.

[pile of monkeys]

We use paper gift cards (preprinted card stock with serial numbers), and they are such a gaint pain in the butt. I connot tell you the number of people who ask me, "Do I need my gift card in order to use it?" Umm, yes. We need your payment in order to use it toward your bill. You can't just tell me you have a $20 bill at home and then expect me to use said $20 toward your bill while it sits on your coffee table. I can't redeem something with a serial number if I don't know what that number is.

We have people who can't understand why we can't replace lost GCs. Lots of them. The most common reason is that they threw it out. When we sell GCs, we put the (credit card sized) GC inside of a greeting card and bundle it together with a service menu (I work in a spa). The whole thing is about 5" x 9" and weighs about the same as a magazine. How do so many people lose them? My personal favorite: "My husband/sister/mother paid good money for that gift card and you WILL honor it." Well, yeah, if you had it. But you lost track of it, and as a result, wasted your loved one's money. NMFP.

In my state, GCs are not legally allowed to expire, so we've gotten ones from as far back as 1999. The good thing is that, back then, we issued them for services instead of dollar amounts ("Pedicure" instead of "$50), and we're only obligated to redeem them for the value of the service when the GC was purchased. Most have depreciated by about 30% by this point. But now that we only issue them for dollar amounts instead of specific services, people bitch about that, too. We stopped doing them for services because most people wanted to redeem them for something other than what the GC was for. (You bought them a pedi, they want a massage instead.) Now we get yelled at because a dollar amount is impersonal, the person will know how much you spent, etc. I always wonder if these people go into a restaurant and try to buy a GC for a T-bone steak, medium rare, baked potato, and one domestic draft beer. No, you buy it for the dollar amount and then the recipient uses it on whatever they'd like.

Grr. I hate GCs.

[Ashcroft]

where I worked did....

I recently quit the place, an electronics retailler, but each one has a seperate code and a barcode to scan, so you know exatly whats going on, also they dont give change on them, we had a stack of removable individual ones and a special printer to make 'em....but they started phasing in the plastic cards when I left...