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More companies and local governments are using gift cards for a variety of reasons, including to correct mistakes and to collect guns and unused prescription drugs. For example, Ogden Directories Inc. printed phonebooks for Washington County, Md., that included numbers customers asked not to be listed, Julie Kruger, an Ogden Directories sales manager, tells CardLine. The company, which is based in Altoona, Pa., is offering $5 prepaid Visa cards to customers who return the misprinted phonebooks by July 30, she says. Consumers who received the misprinted books will receive a new phone book and a postage-paid return envelope. "It is to give people an incentive to return the books. It is something to say, 'this is worth my time,'" Kruger says. Other groups also have turned to gift cards to help accomplish goals. For example, Victory Christ Church in Albany, N.Y., reportedly offered $150 gift cards for a local mall to residents who turn in guns, according to a report Tuesday in the Albany Times Union. The Broward County, Fla., Sheriff's department on May 31 gave consumers who brought in unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs $5 CVS, Walgreen and Wal-Mart gift cards, the office said in a statement.
