SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — If you have DeCA gift certificates, forget about
using them to shop at your local commissary.
The certificates are no longer worth anything at military supermarkets around
the world, the Defense Commissary Agency said Saturday.
Shoppers must instead try for a reimbursement from the Ohio-based company
that issued the popular gift certificates — and abruptly went out of business
last week, according to DeCA.
SNIP
On Thursday, CertifiChecks posted a message on its Web site saying it had
filed for bankruptcy in an Ohio court and directed customers interested in a
“potential” reimbursement to contact the company by mail.
“Due to an extremely difficult economic environment, CertifiChecks, Inc. has
ceased operations, effective immediately,” the message reads.
SNIP
The company said it was another casualty of the financial crisis, despite
increasing sales from military shoppers.
UPDATE: CertifiChecks were not just for military personnel. They were offered to civilians as well and used throughout the US and of courseare now worthless.
ther is this funny odor in the air and I’m not sure what it is but time will tell, ya think?
I have trouble imagining a “gift certificate” company going under.
You collect $20 and issue a gift certificate for $ 19.95. That is, you get the money up front and you are immune from having to pay out more than you have taken in.
Of course, there are any number of variations (you get to make money on the un-redeemed money in escrow; not everyone will cash in their certificate, there is some overhead to administering the program, some don’t charge a fee for issuing the certificate, etc.) but all the variations don’t overcome that you get the money up front, you won’t have to pay out more than you took in, and a good number of cash cards don’t get cashed in.
Whoo! Privatization! Whoo! Free Market! Whoo!