Today's annoyance:
Store Gift Cards
The marketing jackal that thought these up should be a target for rotten tomato throwing classes. I simply refuse to give these as gifts now unless I absolutely know the recipient wants one from this particular store. In the US, there are only a handful of states with cash redemption laws, and most of those are for when the card value falls below $5. Under the current scheme, every scenario favors the store over the consumer. Let's say you receive a $25 card for store X from your auntie.
1. If you want something at store X already and it's over $25, this is the best case scenario for you. It's no different than if auntie handed you $25 on the way into the store. And it's no different for the store, either.
2. What if what you want is less than $25? You now have the option of handing the difference to the store as extra profit or (more typically) you search around the store for something that bridges the gap, something you wouldn't have bought otherwise, thus generating extra sales for store X. Either situation is extra profit for the store.
3. Then there's the possibility that you can't find anything you want/need at store X. If you leave the card in your sock drawer gathering dust, that's pure profit for the store. You could wander around the store and buy something-anything really, but if you don't need it that seems like a terrible waste. Besides, you still have scenario 2 to deal with depending on what you buy.
4. Re-gift. You could give the gift card to a third party as a gift but now you're just passing the problem onto another person.
5. Sell it to a third party at a loss. Duh.
The truly evil version of the gift card is the "gift card with interest". That is, the store charges you interest which is deducted from the card value for every month the card is not used.
Yeah, I received a gift card the other week...