Suzanne Kapner
speaker
353 appearances
8 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2020
last heard Feb 2024
Suzanne Kapner’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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WSJ Your Money Briefing · Gift Cards Are a Hot Item This Year. Watch Out for the Fees. · 24 Dec 2020
podcast
Thanks for having me.
Well, they're up considerably in, you know, the first week of December alone.
They're almost double what they were the same period a year ago.
And that's because in part people are nervous about going to stores because of the pandemic.
And they're also worried about buying online gifts because of the shipping delays.
Yeah, and gift cards, like you said, they've traditionally been popular, but there have been, you know, people I talked to said that they, in past years, didn't really give gift cards because they felt like they were too impersonal.
But this year, they feel like it's sort of a last resort that they, you know, this late in the season, if they haven't already bought their gift or sent their gift, they feel like if they wanted to arrive by Christmas, you know, especially an electronic gift card is the way to go.
Well, some shoppers I talked to said they're trying to buy gift cards from local merchants as a way to support them during this difficult time.
Well, there are two types of gift cards.
You know, one are branded by the store merchants like a Macy's or a Best Buy, and those tend not to have expiration dates.
The other ones that are branded by like a card services company like a Master or Visa card, they don't expire either, but they do have fees that can eat into the balance.
Right, and they can track those fees online, and the fees tend to be deducted depending on the card at various intervals from the redeemable balance.
Well, they likely won't affect holiday sales because retailers can't record the gift cards as revenue until they're redeemed.
But they are a big impetus for people to come back and shop next year.
And so the chances are they could boost retail sales early next year.
Well, some of it, the retailer gets to claim some of it.
And according to estimates, you know, in total, there's something like $3.5 billion in unclaimed gift card receipts that go back to retailers every year.
But another portion does go to the states, and some states do try to locate the cardholder to return the money.
It just really depends on the state.
It's a lot of money that people are not using, that they're basically throwing away.
Showing 241–260 of 353 · page 13 of 18
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