Gift Cards: The Incredible Shrinking Gift?
CHICAGO, Dec. 15, 2004 — Nearly 70 percent of consumers plan to present gift cards this holiday season. A new American Bar Association consumer information Web site can help prevent those cards from becoming “the incredible shrinking gift.”
“The American Bar Association wants consumers to know what they are getting into when they buy gift cards. It’s like any other purchase — buyer beware,” said ABA President Robert J. Grey Jr.
“We want to make sure that the only surprise the recipient gets is the surprise that the giver wants them to have,” he said.
To access the gift card site, go to www.ABALawInfo.org and click on the shopping cart. The site explains hidden fees that may reduce the value of a gift card month-by-month until it bottoms out at zero, points out the potential for expiration dates, notes differences between “national” and “store” gift cards, and offers tips for both gift card buyers and recipients to help maximize card value, and the satisfaction cards bring.
The gift card tips page is the newest addition to the ABA’s consumer information site, joining consumer legal information on finances, family, employment, housing, buying and selling, the courts, criminal justice and finding a lawyer. ABA Section of Business Law committees on Cyberspace Law and Consumer Financial Services Law prepared the gift card information.
With more than 60,000 members, the Section of Business Law is one of the ABA’s largest sections. It provides business lawyers with education and analysis that furthers the development and improvement of business law and helps its members serve their clients competently, efficiently and professionally.
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.
