Just down the road from ScanMyPhotos.com [a division of 30 Minute Photos Etc - lead plaintiff in the merchant interchange antitrust price-fixing litigation] and home to our Irvine, California-based headquarters is the famed South Coast Plaza.  According to Wikipedia, "South Coast Plaza is an upscale shopping mall, and one of the most notable shopping centers in the United States. In 2004, Women's Wear Daily reported that the mall had the highest sales per square foot of any mall in California, at about $800. It is also the third biggest mall in the United States."  South Coast Plaza has disbanded its electronic gift cards for paper certificates.

As reported by Orange County Register reporter, Hang Nguyen on August 19,

South Coast Plaza recently switched from its mall gift cards to gift certificates.  The decision was driven by shoppers and retailers who preferred the “ease of gift certificates and were frustrated by the limitations of the gift-card program,” which launched less than two years ago, the Costa Mesa mall said in a statement.  If shoppers wanted to pay their purchases with both cash and a gift card, they had to know the exact amount on the card. To get that info, they went online, slid the card through one of about 30 readers at the mall or called a number on the card. However, the retailer was not able to tell them their card balance.  And if the retailer punched the wrong amount for the card twice, the shopper might have been locked out from using the card for 5 to 7 business days.  With certificates, the dollar amount is on the paper.  Also with cards, after one year, a $2-per-month fee was applied to unused balances. This fee was charged by American Express, a South Coast Plaza spokeswoman said. The mall said it did not have control over this charge, which is common from third-party issuers.  Because gift-certificate processing and management is done in-house, South Coast Plaza can choose to not charge shoppers a fee. It considers its no fee for certificates as part of the mall’s customer service.  Also with gift cards, it would take five to seven business days for the customers to see the return issued on the card, unless they returned the merchandise the same day.  Funds are immediately available after returns of purchases made with gift certificates.  If a shopper does not use the entire certificate amount, the retailer can give up to $20 cash back or a store credit. Or the customer can go to the concierge desk to have the certificate broken down into smaller amounts.  “While it may seem like a surprising decision, we discovered that high-tech options don’t always translate to better customer service,” Debra Gunn Downing, the mall’s executive director of marketing, said in a statement.  Shoppers can convert gift cards into gift certificates at any concierge location. All existing gift cards will continue to be honored." 

Visa and MasterCard branded gift cards are even worse and come with added concerns as identified by several prior WayTooHigh.com postings.  Now, a leading shopping centre has caught on and switched back to paper certificates.

All About the Visa and MasterCard Promotional Gift Card Scheme

Visa and MasterCard Branded Gift Cards Force Unjust Penalty on Consumers

Visa and MasterCard Gift Cards: Almost as Profitable as Interchange Fees

Visa and MasterCard Gift Cards, Part II

Gift cards are popular but are they memorable?

Kiplinger Magazine's September 2008 issue reports that 40 percent of gift cards are not cashed within the first year!

Previous research has shown that while employees say they like cash best, they quickly forget receiving it.  Cash just isn't memorable. It seems the same is probably true of gift cards. They are forgettable.

What do you think?

Do you have a gift card tucked away somewhere that you never used?

If you received a gift card as recognition and it has gone unused , was the recognition still meaningful? Why or why not?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

me:  Elly, wanna go to the park?

Elly: No thank you.  I wanna dancing shoes*.

me: Saralyn, playground?

Saralyn:  Gdfajpfo9ih radfja.

me:  Ok - Elly, find your shoes.  Saralyn clearly wants to go to the park.

I am such a swindler.  Oh, well.  As it turns out I need to go by the grocery store to pick up my prescription and then by the church so I can pick up the schedule so I know what I am doing tomorrow in playgroup.

Speaking of Kroger, remember when I lost that gift card with almost $200 still on it?  Let me tell you what happened.  On a lark, I went to the customer service counter and asked if they could help me.  The attendant there said no, but that I should contact Mr. Big Manager if we still had our original receipt.  We went home, and bless his little record keeping heart, my husband laid hands on the original.  We went back to Kroger several times and finally caught up with Mr. Big.  Then we went back a week later and gave our info to Mr. Big again and within 10 minutes.....

He reissued my GIFTCARD!!!  WHOO HOO!  The moral of this story is two fold.  Perhaps threefold.

1. Don't believe the first clerk who quotes the back of the card, which says "lost, stolen, or damages cards will not be replaced."
2. Keep your receipts.
3. Be persistent.

I can't tell you how much this takes the heat off me.  AND you better believe I am writing my name and phone number on this card now with a Sharpie!  I may put a small hole in the card and tie a string to it to attach to my wallet so I can't loose it again.  Tony and I bough, all told, about $1200 in gift cards.  It was the easiest way to make 10% on our money in this economy, especially when we buy almost all out gas and snacks at Kroger.   But, I digress.

Eleanor had her 9 month checkup on Friday; I don't think I mentioned that yet.  She's a growing girl and is up to 22 pounds now.  That puts her in the 85th percentile for weight.  Her height measurement was wacky.  They said she was 28 inches long, and that put her in the 55th percentile for height, but I am sure they made a mistake.  I know she didn't shrink from the last time they saw her, when she was 28.25.  The doctor was sure the measuring nurse made a mistake, too, and offered to remeasure, but I couldn't be bothered.  We'd been there almost two hours already.  Saralyn then got two shots in the leg (with Peanuts bandages) and then we went upstairs for a blood draw (Daffy Duck).  Alas, she was better about the shot than she was about the blood draw.  Saralyn HATED the rubber tourniquet.  And she wiggled, so she got a bruise in the crook of her elbow.

All in all, it was a really great weekend, filled with fun get togethers: A surprise birthday brunch with my parents, dominoes with the church ladies, and The Elvis Death Day Celebration with Kingsized and the Dames Aflame Dancers (also, Little E and El Viz).  The show was great, but the whole audience agreed - it would have been better without the exploding can of pepper spray as the opening act.

Perhaps it's because the weekend was so full of fun and activity that I am feeling blue today.  I just don't want the merriment to end.   How do you feel about Monday?

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* So there we were at Party City, and Bambi sees the "princess" party stuff.  They have these little, plastic, Snow White play shoes.  Bambi starts bouncing, BOUNCING up and down.  "Oh PLEASE!  OH Please can I get them for ELLY??? PLEASE!!!!???"  It was worse than when Elly begs for something!  How could I say no?  But I have to say, it was so worth it to watch Bambi and Elly go gaga together over those shoes!  To me, they look like the most uncomfortable shoes in the world, and they don't even fit (and never will, likely).  BUT, Elly slogs around the house in them ALL THE TIME.