So, in places where gift cards can't expire, due to laws, I wonder how long the money sits there?

Probably similar to a bank account that's been inactive for decades?

just as good as traveler's checks! wasn't that the product that put American Express on the map? Can't remember the stat, but most traveler checks go unused for months, and no surprise that (somewhat) applies to gift cards.

Holy Float, Batman!

Float put banking itself on the map, the aptly named cards are a gift to retailers.

La società abbondante!

In my view, giving gift cards is the gift-giving equivalent of 'customer self-service', which is packaged as 'choice' to gullible customers.

The giver sends a gift card, mostly in an email, doing away with the need to invest time in thinking creatively about the receiver and thinks 'I am done'.

The receiver then spends (wastes?) time figuring out what to do with a gift card from a retailer she may not like or ever visit in the real or online world (in the online world, there is the additional task of registering with your details with some random retailer the receiver does not trust); she may wonder about the pitiful sum which may not allow anything half-decent to be bought, and longs to receive a rubbish physical present she can recycle.

No wonder so many never use them. Pareto-inoptimality all around. In short, I am not surprised people never use their gift cards and that this is a growing phenomenon.

If gift giving were not, like seasonal jollity, such a forced phenomenon, all this money could find better uses I am sure.

The resident banker in my house made several interesting points when I told him about this story :

1. In his estimation, the un-claimed figure will have a substantial contribution from partly used gift cards, say, $95 out of $100. This is easier in accounting terms than totally unclaimed ones for which provisions must be carried forward on the selling merchant's books.

2. Banks are only too aware of the limitations of merchant-specific gift cards. They are in on the act - with cards that do not force the recipient to be tied to a retailer but with a Visa/ Master card which is accepted in multiple establishments.

But eventually I agree with the 11-year old cited in the newsstory. I would much rather have the money, thanks..

>> I would much rather have the money, thanks...

The transfer of wealth to a younger generation can be handled in a variety of ways, the most thoughtful gift is one that imparts an invisible lesson, teaches without being didactic, and creates a memory that will serve well in later life. What kind of gift would that be? One that requires you to be thoughtful.

Gift cards are low on that scale and perhaps are symptomatic of tradition-creep... Bah, humbug.