www.pin500.com

www.pin500.com

My son's favorite teacher of all time was retiring, and I searched and searched for an appropriate gift for her to be given at a retirement party that was to be given in the school auditorium. After all the wonderful things she did for my son, his favorite teacher was going to get her very own "favorite" gift.

Anyway, I must have looked at over a hundred sites online with thousands of "specialty gifts" for a teacher, most of them drenched in the ubiquitous apples, before I stumbled onto a site that suggested getting a grocery gift card for a favorite teacher. I called my son over and told him that I'd find the perfect gift. When I mentioned that his favorite teacher would be able to buy anything she desired from the grocery store with the gift card, his eyes positively lit up. "Ohhh," he commented, "and I know just what she'll buy too!"

Of course, I inquired as to what that might be, and he excitedly told me of his favorite teacher's penchant for lobster. So right away we went to the grocery store and together we bought her a decent gift card. We also invested in a beautiful card in which to place the gift card, and my son came home a happy as a clam.

The retirement party day finally arrived and I accompanied my son to the party. His teacher said a truly beautiful farewell speech, and many cried. At last it was time for her to open her gifts. I was so glad that I had not succumbed to the "apple" motifs stuff, because she received over 50 things with apples on them!

When she opened up my son's envelope, her face broke out in a joyous grin, she hugged him and said quietly, "I'm getting lobsters with this!" The mirrored joyous grin that was on my son's face is something I'll never forget. Eventually she sent a thank you note, and inside was a picture of her just getting ready to dig into the nicest red lobster I've ever seen.

www.bestbuy.com.bdty.biz

www.bestbuy.com.bdty.biz

Gift cards are a huge profit center for many retail businesses. Why? Well, many people receive them and then completely forget to use them. Just the other day I was going through a box while moving my office and found not one, but two Starbucks gift cards. I have no idea if they are still valid, but I'll certainly be checking the situation out!

This year, there is another reason to get out and use those gift cards quickly. Unfortunately, the issue is not simply forgetting about them or losing them down in the bottom of some drawer. Instead, it has to do with the nature of the retail business in 2008.

As you know, we are having massive economic problems. There is no longer a debate that we are in a bad recession. Some people are even mentioning the "GD" words [Great Depression"], but we have to hope that they are just guessing. Regardless, the one thing that is clear is people are scared and they are holding on to their money.

All indications are the holiday shopping season has been a bad one for retailers. With people spending less, retailers simply are not bringing in their forecasted revenues. This is really bad news since most retailers live on the knife's edge when it comes to profitability. We've already seen companies like Mervyns, KB Toys and Sharper Image file bankruptcy. As we head into January, it is expected that many more retailers will be joining them.

When a business goes bankrupt, it can shoot for two options. One is to liquidate, which means it closes the doors forever. The second is to "reorganize", often called a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, in which the business continues to function while a judge tries to figure out a way to deal with debtors behind the scenes.

www.bestbuy.com.blvz.biz

www.bestbuy.com.blvz.biz

With the holiday season here, many of you probably want to get a gift card for either your friends or relatives. This is pretty simple seeing that it shows your care and whoever receives it can buy whatever they want with it. A popular gift card that many people have trouble finding online are gas gift cards. While they are online, you have to know the right places to search before you actually find one.

Gas gift cards are online - Yes, if you're looking to purchase gasoline with a gift card, I can tell you that they are online. As of 2008, only a few major gasoline companies allow you actually purchase them directly via the Internet. Gas stations like Chevron and Shell are only a few that I know of off the top of my head that actually offer them.

You will find that there are only a select few. The best way to see if the gas station you're looking for Is offering a gift card is simply by viewing their website. On the website, either do a direct search or look for a link. 99% of the time, you will find it this way. If not, you may have to resort to calling customer service.

Finding them offline - You may find that you need to actually leave your house and go out and buy them. If this is the case, I would recommend you go to the gas station directly and purchase them there. Sometimes, you may find that if you purchase $50 worth of gift cards, you could save $2 or so. This makes it great for you. If the gas station you're looking for isn't in your area because you're sending it a few hundred miles away, you may want to either change your plan or see if they can arrange some alternatives. The worst case scenario is that you'll have to get a prepaid based credit card.

www.bestbuy.com.bwtz.biz

www.bestbuy.com.bwtz.biz

It is often quite hard to find good presents for your friends and family. There are so many things to consider, the most important thing is to find something that the person will really like. Most of the time, you end up buying something that YOU like as you have no idea what the other person would like to have. If you think about it, there are very few people you know who have exactly the same taste as you do.

The other day I was out shopping for a birthday gift for a colleague's son. I love to shop around and was very sure that I would find something that would be useful for the kid. After all there are so many things that kids like: toys, games, books and electronics. The shops are full of stuff and all it takes is to think up of something, anything: kids will always like anything you give them. Well, not always.

First of all deciding what to buy was a major task. There were so many things in stores and I could not make up my mind. There were hundreds of things available that I thought the child would like: the moment I zeroed in on one toy, it was either too expensive or I had doubts if it was the right thing to buy for a kid his age. After visiting every store in my area I got fed up and I went along with what the sales girl suggested and bought a video game that she suggested was very 'popular' with kids.

Certain that the shop assistant couldn't be wrong I got it gift wrapped and delivered it when I went to the party. It was only three days after the event that I got a phone call and was quite alarmed. The parents of the child wanted to know where I bought the video game as they wanted to return it. Sensing that there was some thing wrong I inquired what the problem was. To my embarrassment, they described an incredibly violent scene found in the first 5 minutes of playing the game. Both my colleague and her husband were dead against letting their child waste time playing video games as he was already lagging behind in studies. If this was not enough, three other people had given the kid the same so called 'popular' video game.

www.bestbuy.com.butx.biz

www.bestbuy.com.butx.biz

In the past few years, plastic gift cards and loyalty cards have exploded onto the American marketplace. They have become outrageously popular with millions of patrons of restaurants, retail stores, spas & salons, movie theaters, grocery stores, etc., etc. If you are a merchant and want to make a good, educated decision on what kinds of cards are best to purchase for your business, read on.

First, you have to decide what's most important to you. For example, is looks and durability of utmost importance to you or is price? What is your application for using the cards... as gift cards, loyalty cards, cash cards, promotional cards or all the above?

If your answer is gift cards and a great looking, eye-catching card is a must, then you better be looking for a card printer who can print you customized, 30 mil thick, laminated PVC plastic cards. They are noticeably the best looking and best feeling cards on the market. Consequently, they are the most popular. Because of their popularity over the past few years, the prices have come down. So you don't have to pay too much of a premium for them either... and sometimes none at all! But if your budget is extremely tight, you might see if you can get by with laminated paper core cards or styrene cards. Although cheaper, they have their down sides. Laminated paper cards don't have as good of an appearance and feel as laminated PVC plastic cards. Styrene cards are going to be a little more expensive, but have a closer look and feel to PVC cards. Unfortunately, since they usually are not laminated, they don't have that nice shiny look and feel like laminated PVC cards do.

If your answer is loyalty cards, you better stick with laminated PVC. Not only do they look the best, but they also have the durability you need for a loyalty card. It will keep looking nice in your patron's wallet or purse swipe after swipe after swipe for years to come. UV (ultra-violet) coated cards and styrene cards can look pretty nasty in a short time since they are not protected with a laminate. But it's not just the lamination that counts. It's what's inside too. For example, paper core cards, while laminated, still don't hold up and feel anywhere near as good as laminated PVC cards. Their edges aren't as smooth and they fray after repeated use. You can even pry apart the edges of the lamination. And if you ever wanted to switch card processing vendors, laminated paper core cards cannot be re-encoded like all other cards.