It's a gift: Use it, or lose it

Twenty years ago, when I clocked 40, my mother gave me a cheque for R1 000 as a birthday present. I never cashed the cheque because the sentimental value of hanging on to that piece of paper was worth more to me than the pleasure I would have gotten from spending it on my bribes of choice.Parma ham, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Islay single malt whisky

We don’t use cheques anymore. The modern equivalent of giving money without giving cash is a gift card. More than half of US consumers bought one over the holiday season, spending close to $100 billion in the process.6th Annual U.S. Open Loop Prepaid Cards Market Forecast, 2019–2023 (That’s R1,55 trillion at today’s rates — compare with South Africa’s 2021 national budget revenue of R1,52 trillion.)

I got several gift cards for my 60^th birthday — some of them from specific stores, some of them for specific shopping malls — and it took me a while to work my way through all of them because I kept forgetting they were in my wallet.

I’m not alone. It turns out that in the US market, around 3% of gift cards never get used.

Yes, that’s around $3 billion in gift cards that never gets cashed in, and that’s just the US market.

If you have received one of these recently, maybe make a New Year resolution to use it?