The Gift Card Struggle Series

Published October 5, 2025

Every year, billions of dollars in gift card value is left unspent. They sit in junk drawers, get buried in inboxes, or expire before anyone remembers they exist. We’ve all been there—stuck in that awkward moment at checkout, digging for a card you know you have but can’t find.

That’s why we created the Gift Card Struggle Series: 16 of the most common, most frustrating, most relatable problems people face with gift cards. From “forgetting a card at home” to “having $0.47 left and no idea what to do with it,” these are the struggles that inspired us to build Gift Card Guard.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll share each struggle one by one through short videos, stories, and tips. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, and you’ll probably say, “Yep, that’s me.”

👉 The good news? Every single struggle has a solution.
👉 And with Gift Card Guard, you never have to let free money slip away again.

Lost & Forgotten 🗃

1. Stuffing cards into a junk drawer and never seeing them again.
2. Forgetting a gift card at home when you actually need it.
3. Losing a physical card and having no way to replace it.

Balance Headaches 💸

4. Not knowing how much is left on a card.
5. Needing to call a 1-800 number just to check a balance.
6. Having multiple partial balances across several cards.
7. Tiny remaining balance, stuck with $2.83 that you’ll never use.

Expiration & Fees ⏳

8. A card expiring before you ever used it.
9. Inactivity fees eating away at the balance.
10. Card no longer valid after the brand went bankrupt!

Checkout & Redemption 🛒

11. Holding up the line because you’re searching for a gift card in your purse.
12. A digital card buried in your email, impossible to find at checkout.
13. Codes that are 16+ characters long, impossible to type correctly on the first try.
14. Not knowing which # you need to enter, making you think your card is expired.

Brand Mismatch 🏬❌

15. Getting a card for a store you never shop at.
16. A card for a chain that doesn’t exist near you.