Jacob’s now finishing up 1st grade. He’s got four teachers who primarily instruct him, and since Laureen’s been on the receiving end of teacher gifts that are sometimes useless (“A Starbucks card! Enough for two Trientas! But I don’t drink coffee! Thank You!”), we resorted to the generic “put $20 on a Visa gift card” approach, thinking that’d be unrestrictive enough to make the teachers happy. Sure, it doesn’t say “individuality” like a Dick’s Sporting Goods card would, but THEY’D USE IT, DANGIT.
Visa’s got this end of the game rigged. For their cards that don’t “expire”, they charge a flat $5.95 fee to activate the card. Now, if you’re putting $500 on there, that’s under 2 percent. But when it’s only $20? The cost is still $5.95.
30 percent fees, baby.
Next year? Dead presidential portraits lovingly printed on a cotton/paper blend.