Marculations

The McDonald’s Arch Card. The Subway Cash Card. The Wal-Mart “Reloadable Shopping Card.” What do these things have in common? They’re all a part of a fast-catching new trend among corporations — walled gardens of money.

It seems an impossible feat for a company. How can they get the consumer to spend their money, before they actually purchase anything? And beyond that, how can they guarantee a certain amount of money will be spent there?

It all started with the death of the gift certificate.

Does everybody remember when gift certificates were actual pieces of paper, with an amount scribbled on them, possibly signed by a manager where they were purchased? I do. I even remember receiving some, in fancy envelopes. They actually felt like gifts. Those days are long over. What killed them? “Gift cards.” Yes, gift cards. Small, thin pieces of plastic, whose anonymous value we’ve all over-estimated. Why the switch? Well, you have to ask yourself, “why does a corporation do anything?” The answer is cost savings. The gift certificate is dead. Long live the gift card.

Once the gift card was an established member of society, the next step was simple. Reload-able gift cards. Once you’ve discovered the convenience of swiping a card to pay for a purchase, why wouldn’t you want that fun to keep on going? When your gift card runs out of money, you can simply add more money to it, and keep using it. Essentially, you can give yourself a gift.

That’s great, Wal-Mart, and JCPenny, and Sears, and whoever else rode this initial wave. I’ve got another reloadable card I carry with me. It’s called a credit card. Or maybe you’ve heard of this one? A debit card. Or an ATM card. All of which provide far more fraud protection. How much fraud protection do you get with a “gift card”? To answer that question, just flip one over, and read the fine print. “TREAT THIS CARD LIKE CASH.” Well, then. Tell me. Why would I actually take money out of my credit card, and put it into my reloadable cash card, where it can promptly be stolen, with no legal recourse?

The answer for the corporation is very easy. For you and me, it’s a little trickier. There’s no reason for us to do it. That’s where the marketing comes in. Wal-Mart was the first to come up with an idea that actually had me stop and think: using the shopping card to budget yourself. At the beginning of the month, you put a few hundred bucks into your cash card. Then, as the month wears on, you use that, not your credit card, to buy your groceries. From Wal-Mart.

I have another system I use to do my budgeting, though. It’s called self control. And it lets me shop at a slightly larger variety of retailers.

There’s always a fringe case, and this issue is no exception. I do see the value of these cards if you have kids. You can put fifty bucks on a McDonald’s card, or, if you want them to live a more robust life, a Subway card. They can go hog wild eating out after school, without having to carry cash around that they could “misappropriate,” or be liberated of. But as far as the majority of Los Angelinos are concerned, I think we can manage to spend our money where we’d like to, without fear of accidentally spending it on something else. We’re not children. We might still get mugged, sure. But remember what happens if someone takes your McDonald’s card? Right. They go eat at McDonald’s with it. “TREAT THIS CARD LIKE CASH.”

While they may seem like a silly idea, reloadable cash cards are becoming more widespread every day, and in some cases, they’re becoming mandatory. I found myself baffled the other day at Lucy’s Laundromat on Sunset, when my roll of quarters and I realized that we had to load a cash card with a few bucks to operate any of the washers. When did that happen?

As much as I can, though, I’m going to be fighting against these souped-up gift cards. The last time I checked, I could get cash safely near a magnet. Gift cards, you’ve got a long way to go.