Retail cards get spent eventually because retail is a chore you have to do anyway. Gift cards are not the same as deal vouchersTwo things end up in the same drawer and behave very differently. A gift card used on a Tuesday is worth exactly what a gift card used on an anniversary is worth, and the Tuesday version actually happens. The other side of the drawerAll that unwanted credit does not disappear. It feeds a secondary market: people sell cards they will not use, and other people buy discounted gift cards below face value and spend them normally.