George wrote:

Not very much, most states have unclaimed asset laws that require that
the money from unused gift certificates, uncashed checks etc be turned
over to the state after a certain period of time.

Some of the sleazy big box stores may get around that by having a
"maintenance fee". They take your money and benefit from the interest
but charge a huge fee if the card isn't used and then keep on applying
the fee until they run the balance to zero.

Why the hell should the STATE get the money? I'd much rather the store kept
it.