Editorial: Diminishing returns

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 5:30 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

January 8 - 9, 2005

Owing to inflation, a $25 gift card may not buy as much if you wait several months to spend it, but $25 is still $25. Or so Assemblyman David Parks thought when he went to redeem a card of that amount last year. The retailer said it was worth only $18 -- because of his delay in using the card. The practice of putting expiration dates on gift cards, or dates by which the cards become devalued, is widespread in the retailing industry. Parks, a Las Vegas Democrat, and Assemblyman Joe Hardy, a Republican from Boulder City, plan to push for a state law that would outlaw the practices.

Other than being a way for retailers to make money that they don't have coming to them, we can't think of a single reason why gift cards shouldn't be redeemed at face value. Retailers receive a card's face value at the time they are purchased. How they lose money if a few months elapse is beyond us.

Consumers need protection from such practices and if retailers themselves aren't going to provide it, then the only alternative is for government to step in. We're in favor of retailers who engage in such unfair practices facing a stiff fine -- one that cannot be prorated.