A few months ago I helped a client clean out her grandparents home after her grandmother passed away. We were working on the office when we discovered a drawer full of gift cards. Some of them were expired, some had no expiration date and some were for places no longer in business. The granddaughter handed the whole batch to me as she had too many things going on to worry about redeeming gift cards. Without putting them into a spreadsheet it was clear there were at least $5,000+ in gift cards. It became my mission to see how many of these I could get the businesses to honor.
Here are my results so far:
See’s Candy – The gift cards never expire. They are very happy to redeem them regardless of age.
Mimi’s Cafe – They said the gift card was too old but signed me up for their rewards program and gave me a discount that ended up being more than the gift card face value.
Trader Joe’s, CVS Pharmacy, Target, Fox Restaurant Concepts – Happy to take them.
Cheesecake Factory – No dice with these guys. They said it was too old. Lost money $25.00.
Corsair Visa Gift card had an expiration date and in the fine print said fees would apply for an unused card. Lost money $75.00.
Mastecard Gift Card – They deduct a monthly fee for not using. The card has an expiration date. Lost money $100.