Gift Certificates

I think I have identified the biggest scam going and somehow it's not related to Goldman Sachs. The biggest scam ever created was the gift certificate, now I'm not only talking about the fact they are a completely lame gift but the truth is that they also are a complete rip-off.

The way I see it the gift certificate is a license to print money and the FED should step in because companies have defined their own currency which is pegged to the dollar UNTIL one day it's value is about that of Greek long term prospects.
See how often do you get a gift certificate for $100 and when you receive it you look down and you notice it has an expiration date.

First of all how does money ever expire it can't got bad, it won't spoil and it doesn't lose taste just because a year has past. Maybe the concept came from the fact this thing is a cash-cow so they figured why not add something milky to it. Now if it had been a certificate for a set service like a one-hour massage I could see some argument since prices may change but a $100 gift card should be worth $100. Now if you consider inflation and the fact they have taken money without interest you realize what a huge scam this is.. Give me another scenario where somebody takes your money, sits on it for a year and it then disappears unless you count AIG. To think that one day you have a piece of paper worth $100 and the next day the same piece is worth $0 is ludicrous.
I also know that businesses LOVE gift-certificates since I put the amount of gift-certificates ever used at 30% so it's like found money for stores. On the rare occasion somebody does actually use it, the chances of them using the exact amount is small. Either they buy something for $80 leaving $20 which will probably go unclaimed or they buy something for $120 which means the store collects $20 extra.
With all the rules in favor of the store can't they give the consumer some break?

I say NO to expiration dates on anything not from a cow.
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