cross-posted from: https://belgae.social/post/2046140
What’s the point of allowing money to expire? If you buy a top-up for a GSM account, what legit reason could there be for allowing carriers to screw over consumers on such an arbitrary basis? Indeed, if you buy phone credit in Belgium, it expires. I just bought a top-up card that had already expired because I did not notice the expiration date in tiny print.
Interesting to notice that some US states have banned gift cards that expire.
12 Comments
one_old_coder@piefed.social · 2 pts · 14d
I know nothing about GSM, but gift cards are not money in most countries out there.
can@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 14d
Most don't expire in Canada
autonomousPunk@belgae.social · 0 pts · 14d
Why would you want a gift card that is not money? If you can’t spend it, what’s the point?
one_old_coder@piefed.social · 3 pts · 14d
PlayStation gift card, Nintendo gift card, Spotify gift card, etc. The sky is the limit. You gift it, and people use it! Wow. You don't keep it forever like a gold bar or a bitcoin.
Yes, it's a scam, and it's better to give bills and coins, but it's like buying a cake.
You cannot spend a cake, it still has a point though (even if it expires, like a gift card).
Edit: "phone credit" Is it a for a real company, or for a burner kind of phone?
autonomousPunk@belgae.social · -1 pts · 14d
That’s money. They exist to buy stuff. And when it expires, it’s money expiring. It’s of course a swindle.
indeed, because a cake is not money. Unlike gift cards, which function strictly as money.
Not sure what you’re trying to ask but burner phones were banned in Belgium around ~10 years ago. All GSM cards must be registered to a gov-issued ID.
one_old_coder@piefed.social · 3 pts · 14d
Gift card is not money. It is used to get games and music and stuff from a specific company. I cannot use a Spotify gift card to buy a hamburger. It's still some kind of scam, but it's not forbidden, and it's not money either.
autonomousPunk@belgae.social · 0 pts · 14d
Of course gift cards are money. You can’t buy a burger in Germany with Mexican pesos either. But Mexican pesos don’t cease to be money on the basis that it’s not usable everywhere for everything.
Note as well you may be able to buy a burger at the Ikea cafeteria using an Ikea gift card. Haven’t tried it, but nonetheless it would be a shitty test for deciding whether to call it money.
TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 0 pts · 14d
You must be very young, or incredibly nieve to not understand how gift cards function. They're basically IOUs you buy from a company. They are not a form of currency backed by the government.
autonomousPunk@belgae.social · -1 pts · 14d
How can you be so naive as to think money in the bank is yours? That’s not /your/ money in the bank. It’s the bank’s money. There is an IOU from the bank to you.
Same with cash money. It’s no longer backed by gold reserves. It’s backed by nothing. All you have is /trust/; just like gift cards. Have look at what’s printed on US dollar banknotes. It’s spelled out for you.
one_old_coder@piefed.social · 0 pts · 14d
You can exchange your pesos to euros. Can you do the same with your pokemon cards?
autonomousPunk@belgae.social · -1 pts · 14d
Of course. Just as I bought the gift cards with euros, the person on the other side of the transaction received euros for the gift cards. I could play either role depending on what I am starting with.