Um... the general driving point behind these cards is that Retailers strengthen their brand and increase sales. They are not going to go away. You loose your cash and your screwed too... As for old fashioned Gift Certificates - Cards are more portable, harder to loose, easier on the accounting systems, and have been proven to increase sales from 50 to 100%. Waste generated? by 'dead' cards? If your going to keep on drinking Starbucks, just reload them and there's no waste... there's far more waste from the products one consumes with the cards than the cards themselves.