Yesterday I told you about SaveMart’s new gift card policy and how angry it made me. Well I am not one to just get angry and stew; I am very proactive and since Beth Terry armed me with a positive solution to the problem of trashing gift cards, I wrote the company again. Here is what I wrote:
Hello from a loyal pharmacy customer. It has come to my attention that a recent change has taken place concerning pharmacy gift cards. The new policy is to issue disposable $10.00 gift cards replacing re-loadable gift cards. This seems to be a waste of natural resources and more non-degradable plastic cluttering up our landfills. When asked about the policy change the store manager had this to say; “we are number crunchers and this will save us money”. I am not sure how this will save you money; could you please explain it to me?
I am also including a link to an article about recycling gift cards; apparently there is a company out there who will take gift cards to be recycled. Does your company participate in this program already? If so please let me know so I can pass the information to the readers of my blog as well as other blogger who are very interested in your answer.
Respectfuly,
Sari Nichols
And here was the reply:
Dear Sari Nichols:
Thank you for taking the time to write your comments to us. We appreciate the opportunity to communicate with our customers.
Your comments have been forwarded to store and corporate management, and supervisory personnel. Please be assured the issues you raised will be addressed and your comments will be given every consideration as store issues are examined and changes are planned for the future. Customer satisfaction is very important to us and we appreciate your input.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage. We value our customers! If we can ever be of any additional assistance to you, please write or call our toll-free number, 1-800-692-5710.
Thank you,
Consumer Relations
Case ID: 70560
I will call the number above if I do not hear from them by Wednesday. Meanwhile I encourage everyone who feels the way I do, to not only write Save Mart about this but to other companies as well. My next letter will be to Starbucks. Turns out they do not recycle their gift cards, they just throw them away. I thought Starbucks was a green company??
The View From Sari's World 