Friday, January 7, 2011

Selling gift cards at Post Offices

According to the Washington Post, the Postal Service will test sales of gift cards in May at 2,000 retail outlets.

Instead of branded gift cards, the pre-paid cards would be general use cards from American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa, according to papers filed Wednesday with thePostal Regulatory Commission.

If it works, the cards would expand to another 3,000 offices later in the year.
The cards would be sold in either fixed amounts or variable amounts up to $100.

So, what do you think? Would your customers buy these kinds of cards? Is this a good idea?
Comment here.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

didn't we try this at one time?

Anonymous said...

I believe this will only take away from our postal money order sales.

jasmine krotkov said...

How much do the cards cost? Why not just call them "money order cards" to capitalize on the trust Postal money orders engender? How long before some private enterprise complains that "the government" is competing unfairly? Aside from all that curmudgeon-ery, I think its a great idea, that my customers would buy them, and that we should go a step further into Postal banking.

Anonymous said...

Based on recent news reports of racked gift cards, security measures need to be put into place. Until then, it is a VERY BAD idea. Techno thieves steal the card number info, then check online to see when the cards are activated at the counter, and use the information obtained off the card to deplete the card balance before the legitimate buyer has a chance to use it.

FrancisA said...

If the customers get to buy the card at no or $1 fee, we would be competitive otherwise it is just an another expensive alternative location as most grocery store provide at smaller or no fee some the these cards. Atleast we should be same or less costly than that is provided at Malls. if not why they would prefer to drive to a postoffice?

Anonymous said...

Selling Gift Cards is an awesome idea. You can go to the PO and buy a
greeting card and a gift card, sign it, address it and mail it! One stop
shopping for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
All the grocery stores do it, why not us?

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately the offices that get them to sale are not the ones that should be getting them. Of all the thousands of POs that are located in small towns without Walmarts, big grocery stores and retail malls, we never get to test these things, and I do believe that is where they might sell the best. If I want to purchase a card to send, i have to make a 10 mile run to the next town. At least the postal service could give it a try in the small offices to find out, after all it is about testing.

Anonymous said...

I think that gift cards could be a good idea. But the USPS does not insure them for the face value unless the customer sends them registered. Otherwise, gift cards are only insurable through express mail for $15.00. How attractive is this product?

How long did phone cards last? did the postal service come out on this idea?

I think the new idea of greeting cards could be a good idea for any size community, if the seletion is good. Dropping them in the mail without the postage is convenient for the customer. Purchasing them as a gift for the elderly who can not get out and purchase their own cards to send is another great idea. However, is the postage collected going to be correct? The customer might add pictues to the greeting card. Will the usps realize the correct revenue?

I don't mean to sound like a pessimist, we need to look for revenue ideas.

Along with looking for revenue is cutting expenses, start from the top and eliminate the unnecessary.
Our bottom line will look better.

Anonymous said...

I think regular gift cards would be a better draw. They could be at the counter, like the phone cards were.