|
Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture
Help Your Student Win…
Help Your Students to Win a Chance to Get a Patent on an Invention The Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation has partnered with ePals Global Community to sponsor the second annual invention challenge!
Get your students’ creativity flowing. Help them become inventors by choosing a problem and inventing something to solve it. You can use the power point template to submit their ideas. Four lucky winners will have the chance to get a patent filed for their invention! This year, there are chances for students to win across multiple categories and age groups. Entries are due January 4th, 2013. Finalists will be announced on Kid Inventor Day (Jan. 17th 2012) and the winners will be announced on February 4th! Visit ePals Invent-It Challenge Contest Page for more details!
Got maternity care?
![]() |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Check your Gift Card …

Ever get a gift card that lost its value? One day, it promised you $50 or $100, then when you went to use it, the card had been drained.
Maybe there were unexpected fees. Some cards charge you if you don’t use them in a certain period. Others expire.
Maybe the store went belly up. Your cash money went to pay their creditors and you got nothing.
If the card was a “rewards” card purchased with credit card, airline, or other “points” — well then, all bets are off. The card could have been loaded with fees and expire at any time.
This holiday season, lawmakers are working on a bill to eliminate fees and expiration dates. Money doesn’t expire. Neither should money stored on a gift card.
The bill would also require companies to treat cards purchased with rewards points the same as cards purchased with cash.
But this bill isn’t a slam dunk. Retailers and banks benefit when you give them cash but then they don’t have to honor that cash amount in goods or services. To pass this bill, in the face of opposition from industry, lawmakers need the stories of real people.
Tell us your story, and we will put it in front of lawmakers and news outlets!
Share your story, or forward this email to a friend, co-worker or family member who may have gotten less than their money’s worth from a gift card.
Sincerely,
Pam Banks, DefendYourDollars.org
A project of Consumers Union








You must be logged in to post a comment.