The Gift Card Scamboozle

I don't use gift cards all that often -- for one thing, i'm rarely given them (not "gifted" them, good grief). But i don't use credit cards either (i lack the self-discipline to use them sensibly, a lesson i learned with a great deal of trial and tribulation when i was in my twenties) (and i haven't matured much since then, to be honest).

But sometimes, for online purchases, a credit card is the only way, and so i will occasionally buy myself (not "gift" myself, good grief) a Visa or MasterCard gift card for $50 or $100 and use that.

So, what do you do with a gift card when you've used up all but its last two or three dollars? I mean, you can't really use it for anything then, so, you probably place it wistfully into the garbage and say 'bye 'bye. At least, that's what i do. My last one had ninety-four cents available on it and what the hell was i going to do with that? So i trashed it.

Consider this, then: millions of gift cards out there, each with a dollar or two remaining, all in the bin. Is this a windfall for the gift card companies? Or is it? I'd be inclined to suggest that they're raking it in on unclaimed balances alone.

And the stupid thing is, i can't get too angry: i just wish i'd thought of it first. (Did you know that i may have been the first person ever, to conceptualize the GPS? No, really! Unfortunately, i was very young at the time, a hundred years or so ago, and the technology didn't exist. But 'twas i.)

So here are the latest additions to my CD collection. Unfortunately, as my collection is fluid -- new ones coming every day, folks! -- some will appear out of sequence, like this, which i just received yesterday:

Mick Abrahams is a fabulous blues-rock guitarist. He was a founding member of Jethro Tull, but Ian Anderson chucked him out after their first album, because all Mick wanted to was to play da blooze, while Ian Anderson envisioned a different direction for Tull. This is a 2013 live 2-CD set (disc one is acoustic, disc two is electric) and it's great -- and Mick's between-song patter is hilarious, he's also a natural comic LOL








Otherwise, normal sequence continues:

And, of course, the playlist:

The Bee Gees - Odessa
Chicago - Chicago VII
Glenn Hughes - The God Of Voice: The Best Of Glenn Hughes [stupid title!]
Van der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other
Wishbone Ash - No Smoke Without Fire
Peter Hammill - X My Heart
The Jeff Beck Group - Beck-Ola
Paula Cole - Raven
Barlow - Barlow
Roy Wood - Outstanding Performer
Sparks - Kimono My House
Yes - Going For The One