Gift Cards

My employer gave me one of those gift cards once and it wouldn't work at a strip club. They tried and it was rejected. It worked for gas for my car for a couple of months though.

The card had a strict no adult entertainment purchases rule on it. Maybe, any distribution discreet shows up on the gift card cencus and the company doesn't want to look shady or something.

Wal-Mart and most other retailers have the ability to put an *immediate* electronic hold on the portion of the card's balance you've spent there. Perhaps this club doesn't have that particular relationship with the card backer. Such things *do* cost extra money, after all. :)

If you ever charge something on a credit card, and the charge doesn't show up, even as "pending", for a few days, it's because that party doesn't put such a hold on your card, and is depending on your ID and signature to guarantee payment.

Mohead Dude...is the employee you? You know the NSA has a file on you saying "first rate pervo" now!

Lol

Get the cash from the card using an ATM.

Gatorfan, I got one of these gift card Visa cards and it said it could not be used at ATMs. I think the reloadable ones can though.

I used a visa gift card at a strip club to buy food/drinks. Waitress also wrote my drivers license down on the receipt. I do know some clubs pre authorize a certain amount like $50 so if you try to buy a $5 drink with a $25 visa gift card it might get rejected.


Also those prepaid Visa cards get rejected by some porn sites but others accept them and you can fill it whatever for the name/address.

I know one kind also requires you to register the card on their website before letting you use it at the gas pump or online. Maybe if you had the card registered you could have told her to call visa to verify it belongs to you.

@Samsung1 Mine was a gift card that couldn't be used at ATM's or for cash advances. The club that I was at does cash advances on credit cards, that's why mine didn't work.

The instructions that came with my card said it could be used to withdraw cash from an ATM but a PIN was required and the PIN was supplied by my company.

I mean the PIN was not given to me

The company I used to work for and the new one I work for have a policy of no gift cards for any reason. Really makes you feel appreciated when the only thing you can hope to get is a gift certificate for some local food if they are still doing that. I wouldn't be surprised if the new company I work for doesn't do that. Of course if asked, management would say performance ratings affects your salary when it comes time to discuss raises. A cash gift for good performance could be seen as a one off gift so that the company can stiff you or not pay a bigger salary based on your past salary increases for all your years of future employment.

I motivate my employees the old fashioned way. I pay them well and provide juicy benefits.

No gift cards. No end-of-year bonuses. No Christmas parties. No summer picnics.

Occasionally, when I sell a part of my company I may share part of the profit with those employees most helpful in generating the profit.

I always considered gift cards to a pain in the ass and a con. Think of the unused millions, perhaps billions, of residual dollars on a gift card. Where does that money go?

I never understood the concept really. Cash is the only way to go.

Your employer chose to purchase "single use" (as in not reloadable, they can be used repeatedly until the original balance is used up) preloaded cards. This type of card has the least cost for the purchaser, because it is restricted and has limited function. Usually the purchaser's bank will sell this kind of card at face value. If your employer had PURCHASED pin #s (paid extra) you would have also discovered that every ATM in the world would also charge you to withdraw $.

The cards will only work for "retail" purchases at "qualified" merchants. Mostly, that is a cost control measure. Merchants pay a fee for every card transaction, plus a % of the transaction, so your employers bank can sell the "single use, merchant only" card at face value and the card company (and the bank) still make a little money. But it is also a federally required security measure. This kind of card (not reloadable, restricted to purchases) is more difficult to use in the drug trade or laundering illegal profits. (Banks charge extra for cards that work better for drug lords!)

Don't you just hate it when you get free money and have to spend it for things you need instead of stuff you want? Makes me feel like a kid getting instructions about what I cannot buy with the $20 grandma sent me for Christmas! (that was years ago, $20 went a loooong way!)

I had an employer who used to give us turkeys at Christmas. Didn't have to buy one then. LOL

"Think of the unused millions, perhaps billions, of residual dollars on a gift card. Where does that money go?"

Why do you think everybody and their brother sells gift cards now? Hell they'll often sell them to you at a discount because they know X percentage is never going to get used.

Shoot it used to be that after a certain period of inactivity the amount on the cards started to decrease on a per month basis. I think they've gone away from that but it's still shocking.

"I motivate my employees the old fashioned way. I pay them well and provide juicy benefits.

No gift cards. No end-of-year bonuses. No Christmas parties. No summer picnics."

I always smile when a new BMW shows up in the car lot. We pay the same way!

The tiny gift card that my employer gave me felt great and helped motivate me. It was for less than my employer earns off of me in 2 hours, but it was still appreciated.