On Sun, 5 Feb 2012 08:39:57 -0500, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

wrote:
On Sat, 4 Feb 2012 20:50:30 -0500, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Leon wrote:


I think Chevron and Texaco have make that list of places to avoid.
They want you to buy a farkin gift card with cash to get the same
price that the competition is offering. Then if you don't use the
whole amount they get to use your money until you come back. So
effectively they charge you 20 cents per gallon to use a credit card
to pay.

It's worth seeing if those gift cards have an expiration date. A
lot of retailers put time limits on their gift cards. You pay cash
for them, but if you don't use them before the time limit hits, they
become a gift to the store. That's sleezy.

OTOH, they have to keep them on their books. A "reasonable"
expiration (5 years?) shouldn't be an issue.

Keep them on their books? I'm no accountant, but why would they have to
keep them on their books?

1) Because they are a liability on the company. 2) It doesn't show up as
income until it's redeemed (see #1). 3) Because it's the law.

They were purchased with cash. Regardless - they
were purchased. Should be worth face value forever in my opinion.

They do cost the company real money to keep on the books. I'm not against
them limiting that liability to some reasonable time.