[Grizzly]

(09-24-2013 08:38 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

(09-23-2013 01:34 AM)calculus Wrote:  

I think this is your downfall: The card-issuer- or service provider- counts on that $.50 going unused. It's pure profit. If they sell the $.50 to you for $.52, they only make two cents. If they simply tell you to fuck off, they keep the whole $.50. Unless I'm missing something.

This pretty much kills the idea. Same thing with gift cards, rebate cards, airmiles and everything else of that sort. The companies are counting on people being dumb/lazy and not using all of them.

(edit). To add to this point, I used to get rebate checks, but last time I requested a rebate I received a prepaid card for $30 even though it's more expensive to issue it than to write a check. Why? Because I would cash the check immediately using my phone app, but with the card, I still have $10 left on it and may forget about it. Even if I don't, chances are I'll spend less than the exact amount and forget about whatever is left.

Issuing rebate cards might be a free or discounted service provided to the merchant by the card issuer--usually either Visa or MC--or some other payment processor like Elavon. Merchants are usually charged a flat rate or percentage of each transaction by their processor, for the convenience of using a card-based payment system instead of cash. Therefore, when you swipe that rebate card somewhere, a cut of the transaction eventually makes its way to Visa or MC. The card costs next to nothing for the issuer to produce.