[pitzinoodles]

If you received a $60 gift card for a large store in the mail addressed to a previous owner whose forwarding details you don't have, would you use it?

Further info:
- it's a reward type card from the store - you've spent x amount so company will reward you with this gift voucher
- addressed to someone who was 2 owners ago, no forwarding address left.
- have previously 'returned to sender' most mail, including from this company.
-DD (3.5yo) loves opening mail and got to it before me, so it was opened when usually in would have returned to sender it not knowing what was in there!

So should I put it in an envelope and send it back to the store or spend it? Which is the 'right' thing to do.

[Saecularis Angel...]

To spend it would effectively be to steal from the store.

Sorry, I know the bonus would be nice, but you didn't earn it.

[Jjbeanz]

The right thing to do is send it back

This post has been edited by Jjbeanz: 10/11/2012, 10:11 PM

[Kwyjibo]

I would be very, very tempted to spend it

I am sure the EB moral collective will be here soon to steer you in the 'correct' direction.

[Guest_zeus359_*]

I would sent it back. Particularly as it is a you spent this much money type thing, that means the person is still spending at the stores, and using their card to get points or whatever. Perhaps they may try calling the owner of the gift voucher when you send it back.

[AvadaKedavra]

To spend it would effectively be to steal from the store.

Sorry, I know the bonus would be nice, but you didn't earn it.

Do stores operate ethically and thereby require reciprocal respect from customers?

Coles/Safeway (for example) steal from farmers to give to CEOs/shareholders.

Does the $60 even mean anything to the store?

What do you have to do to 'earn' something - for example, the CEO of a company might make 1000x the annual wage of the factory floor worker; that doesn't mean the CEO 'earned' it, it just means that he is unequally rewarded by an unjust and arbitrary system.


Enjoy the $60 bonus. I see utterly not practical ethical reason why you have any moral obligation whatsoever to give even a millisecond of care about the poor old major corporation whose $60 you are 'stealing'.

If you had any way of giving it to the individual who used to live there, then I would say you were stealing if you didn't. The corporation doesn't get a vote in my personal moral compass.

[pitzinoodles]

To spend it would effectively be to steal from the store.

Sorry, I know the bonus would be nice, but you didn't earn it.

Part of me feels that way, but I also know gift cards are considered like cash. And if someone sent a card birthday card with cash and no sender name on the back it wouldn't be stealing...or would you take it to the police to see if it is claimed?

[SugarMumma]

I would be very, very tempted to spend it

I am sure the EB moral collective will be here soon to steer you in the 'correct' direction.

Ditto, apparently I'm not part of the EB collective lol

[LambChop]

2 owners ago... man how long does it take for them to sort their mail !!

I'd spend it, and not consider it stealing.

[MelbChick]

Not sure about the ethics of shopping OP... it's clear that the money is now in your hands

It's an interesting question. As PPs have pointed out, you could think of it in terms of stealing and return it to the store. If that doesn't really resonate with you, then I'd have to go with pointing out 'the evils of consumerism'

So I think maybe the question you could ask yourself would be: What is the best use of this money/credit? Is it better if the money is not in the hands of the store, but in your own? If so, can it spent in a way that does more good in the world than harm? ... or is it better not to spend it at all? ....