Check Your Gift Card Expiration Dates!
I was reading the latest quarterly earnings from Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) and they detailed in the article how much money Abercrombie & Fitch recognized in profits from people who bought gift cards but never redeemed them. Here is the quote from the article.
"Fourth-quarter profits included $3.5 million from gift cards sold but never redeemed, the company said."
Here is what you could buy from Abercrombie & Fitch's web site with all those gift cards:
- 50,359 pairs of Resmen Low Rise Jeans or
- 70,707 Fish Creek A&F Shirts or
- 58,823 Forked Lake Khaki Cargo Shorts or
- 118,644 pairs of Canvas Floral Flip Flops or
- 145,833 Irene racerback Tank Tops!
It must be good business when the first listing for each shopping category on the A&F web site is to buy Gift Cards.
Based on this, I am going to see what other information I can get from other publicaly traded retailers to see how much money American consumers are wasting by not redeeming their gift cards in time. I also know there has been some legislation passed in certain states to extend the expiration dates of gift cards.
