It never hurts to ask...

Lately, I've been on a quest. I'm determined to use up all my gift cards! See, usually when I get a gift card, I think "I need to save this to buy something really special." Then, I'd put it in a safe place and there it would sit, til one day, if I remembered it, I'd finally get it out and use it.

But, since I won a gift card on halloween and used it less than 24 hours later, I've been determined that i'm going to seize the moment and make the most of all my gift cards.

Since then, I've redeemed an AMC movie pass that expired Sept. 05, a Chick-Fil-A biscuit card in exchange for a chicken sandwich, and a $25 gift certificate from Nine West that was issued in January--2000. I didn't mean to hoarde them, I think most of the time, I'd forget about them.

The 6-year-old Nine West redemption was my favorite--'til now.

I came across two $25 Target gift certificates--not gift cards, but paper certificates. They were issued in 1995. Seriously? Where have they been all this time? Why hadn't I used them? I took them to Target in January in hopes of redeeming them--I was up front with the cashier that they were so old, and he was hopeful. But, since technology had changed since then, we had a problem--the certificates had no bar code, and the cash register didn't have a way to input the serial number. They couldn't accept the certificates.

I left Target with two options, either throw them away or mail them to the Target Corporation. I chose b. But I knew that with 11 year-old certificates, it had better not be an ordinary letter...

Dear Mr. Francis (VP of Marketing),

As a frequent Target customer, and a fellow employee in the world of customer service, I write inviting you to travel back in time with me. The year was 1995. Steve Young and the San Francisco 49ers had just won Super Bowl 29. I was a junior in high school. Somehow I received $50 in Target gift certificates. I’d like to tell you how I got them, but I just can’t remember that far back. Back then, I could have used the certificates to buy the new Alanis Morissette tape, or season one of Friends on VHS, but apparently my mother’s instructions to save for a rainy day resounded in my head.

Fast forward 11 years. When cleaning out old files recently I came across the gift certificates. I realize the fine print on the back states that the original certificates (enclosed) are no longer valid, but I am hoping that you will be able to reissue them (perhaps in the form of an electronic gift card—which didn’t even exist back in 1995).

Today, I’d buy the new Gwen Stefani CD and season ten of Friends. Wow, times have changed, but I really hope you can help me out and reissue the gift certificates. Please feel free to mail the gift card directly to my home address below. Thanks for allowing me this trip down memory lane.

I didn't really know what to expect--but I thought, it never hurts to ask. So yesterday in the mail, I had a letter from Target. Well, I guess the VP of Marketing has a sense of humor, because not only did I get a brand-new, barcode-enabled $50 gift card, I also received a personalized letter thanking me for my trip down memory lane and flashback to the 20th century.

I don't always have good luck with customer service at Target, but they've won me over. So with all that said... it never hurts to ask!