CASH IS KING

After I read an article about how often gift cards are lost, expire before being used, or small balances left on the card aren't worth hanging onto it - and just how much money companies make because of that - I made a conscious decision to only give cash to people I normally would have given a gift card to in the past.

Think about it. Isn't opening an envelope and finding a nice crisp $50 bill nicer than finding a $50 gift card to a store you go to MAYBE once a year? And you can get creative! Ask your bank for crisp $2 bills! My dad gave my daughter $40 is $2 bills, and she still has most of them, and when she went to a friend's birthday party, she tucked 3 of the bills in the gift as a surprise.

Well, here's just one more reason I won't go back to buying gift cards...

$75M in gift cards could become worthless

You know that Sharper Image gift card you got for Christmas? Right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too.

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year.

...

The Sharper Image announced late last month that it was suspending the acceptance of gift cards, at least temporarily. It urged shoppers to check the company Web site later this month for an update. That is typical of businesses that reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which treats gift cards as a loan to the company, not as cash.