• Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    An estimated $570 billion is loaded onto gift and prepaid cards each year in the United States

    Holy crap, I had no idea that so many people buy these stupid things. My mother used to buy them. She’d give Visa $5 in order to give me a $100 gift card. I told her she was wasting her money and she should just write me a check but she just kept doing it.

    Based on the fee schedule at this site, that 5% fee is normal. That means these companies are making $28.5 billion per year providing no useful service at all.

    • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      they’re huge in the homeless community. it’s the only way a person with no bank can pay for most things these days.

      the homeless community is rapidly growing too.

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        $1.2 billion would be a very small bank. But also, that money is not able to be used by Starbucks. It’s not “earned” yet. I don’t know the details on what they can invest it in, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it has to just sit in a bank account earning very little.

        Even a small bank would be able to invest the money much better.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      If I can make an assumption; it’s your fault. I’m just trying to gift you something you’ll appreciate. Can’t you help with sone sort of wish list or favorite store? I know gift cards are a ripoff but no one uses checks anymore and without any constraints I have no reasonable way to gift you something you’d appreciate

      • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        The government should consider printing some sort of paper voucher as a representation of money to be used in instances such as this. /s

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          I do remember such a thing from decades ago, but haven’t seen anything like that in years. Do people still use it? Do i need to goto some sort of museum? Can I use it online or from my phone?