Archived $0 Balance Giftcard Trash

[SeasonalCashier]

I stumbled across this forum, I’m a fairly new seasonal cashier (since 1st of Nov)... After reading through some of these posts I’m a little concerned about something I did on my last shift.

I have a niece who’s 6 & autistic & OBSESSED with elephants. Last shift I had a guest come through my line and she used an adorable baby elephant gift card to pay. She used all of funds on the gift card, it had $0 balance and I threw it in my trash bin after asking her if she wanted it back.

When my shift was over, I thought it would be cool to give to my niece since it had no balance and was just trash, so I pulled it out of the trash and took it home. I did have a moment of hesitation where I thought I should ask if it was ok but I reasoned it was trash, so NBD.

Now after reading some of these threads about theft and how much they observe, I was wondering if, in your opinion, there’s any chance I could get in trouble?

My next shift is Saturday afternoon and I haven’t heard from anyone yet...

 

[buliSBI]

ASANTS....Ask your GSTL

 

[can't touch this]

Ehh. If they saw you take it they’ve already looked it up and found that it had a $0 balance. So you might get asked for an explaination but I doubt anything serious will happen.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

I stumbled across this forum, I’m a fairly new seasonal cashier (since 1st of Nov)... After reading through some of these posts I’m a little concerned about something I did on my last shift.

I have a niece who’s 6 & autistic & OBSESSED with elephants. Last shift I had a guest come through my line and she used an adorable baby elephant gift card to pay. She used all of funds on the gift card, it had $0 balance and I threw it in my trash bin after asking her if she wanted it back.

When my shift was over, I thought it would be cool to give to my niece since it had no balance and was just trash, so I pulled it out of the trash and took it home. I did have a moment of hesitation where I thought I should ask if it was ok but I reasoned it was trash, so NBD.

Now after reading some of these threads about theft and how much they observe, I was wondering if, in your opinion, there’s any chance I could get in trouble?

My next shift is Saturday afternoon and I haven’t heard from anyone yet...

I would have just asked my GSTL and let them know about your niece.

 

[SeasonalCashier]

Do you think I should preemptively say something on my next shift? Like mention to that day’s TL and let them know I thought about it after the fact and thought I should say something?

 

[Dog]

Honestly don’t even worry about it the thing was trash and it was going to go into the compactor anyway

 

[Pinballmaster]

You should have just took a new one......

 

[REDcardJJ]

probably not a big deal but next time i'd see if you could just take a new one and if you can't just buy one for $5

 

[Llamanatee]

You should have just took a new one......

This.

I had a guest that had a son that for some reason I couldn't remember really wanted an iTunes card. The father asked me for it, I told him we didn't keep inventory on them and that it was useless unless activated - then I ripped it off the banker and gave it to the child. It made his damn day.

 

[Llamanatee]

probably not a big deal but next time i'd see if you could just take a new one and if you can't just buy one for $5

$2 is the minimum, unless it changed.

 

[redeye58]

It changed sometime ago; it's $5 minimum.

 

[Llamanatee]

It changed sometime ago; it's $5 minimum.

Shopkick still gives out $2 ones. Weird.

 

[LearningTree]

Unless AP was already watching you for something, no one's going to notice. Just don't load anything on it and then use it. That'll flag in the system.

 

[redeye58]

Shopkick still gives out $2 ones. Weird.

Because it's under a reward system.
To purchase any Target/Starbucks giftcard without a designated denomination, the minimum is $5; altho some SB giftcards cards will demand a minimum of $10.

 

[dave white]

If AP does look into it they'll see the $0 balance and not give any shit and move on to something else.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Hahaha I too worry about little shit like this. I’d say keep quiet about it until you’re confronted (which you most likely won’t be). It seems like spot watches every single thing you do, but taking something out of the trash to take home isn’t that big a deal unless it was actual merchandise that’s worth something. A $0 gift card will not land you in the AP office so don’t worry too much 😉
But for future reference don’t do anything like that ever again because then they’ll have their eyes on you. I’ve made a few mistakes in my target career and slipped through the cracks for them but best not to do anything that makes you question yourself or think back with some kind of regret. Even picking up a penny off the floor is a no no. That’s targets money!

 

[garbage]

Ehh. If they saw you take it they’ve already looked it up and found that it had a $0 balance. So you might get asked for an explaination but I doubt anything serious will happen.

This. If we saw you do it, we’d look up the balance. If it’s zero, we still wonder wtf was going on and keep a passive eye on you but no harm no foul.

 

[redcardroy]

Garbage hit the nail on the head. If I were you, I'd tell your ETL-AP exactly what you've told us. That's you covering yourself in case your ETL-AP noticed it already and it's drawn his curiousity.

 

[starmaster1000]

It changed sometime ago; it's $5 minimum.

During the 10% off event, the stupid POS let some cashiers (albeit them doing this accidentally) load them with only $1.00. But yes, $5 is the minimum.

 

[Ringwraith917]

You should probably get your affairs in order. You'll be spending Christmas in jail.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

The card had no value, so you should be fine. I would just let sleeping dogs lie, unless someone brings it up. 😁

 

[starmaster1000]

Broke: trash surfing for gift cards to tape your Speed ID/Speed Key to.

 

[Far from newbie]

Targets trash is not yours to take. Never take anything out of the store that a guest can not purchase. Not trash, defectives, donates, pens, schedules, signage.....get it ? NOT YOURS. I’ve known tm fired for taking money found on the restroom floor, stuff out of the compactor, even things GIVEN to them by guests . Buy it or leave it. I doubt you are “in trouble” but really why even put yourself in harms way ? You asked the question because deep down you knew you shouldn’t have done it, you just hoped it didn’t matter that you did. It probably doesn’t matter that you did, but you still SHOULDN’T have. Leave it be, don’t say anything and raise suspicion but dont take anything else that you didn’t purchase yourself.

 

[Fix It]

Some trolls really came out in this thread lol.

Nothing will happen. In the future let the GSTL or GSA know. As a general rule if you’re going to take anything that will probably be trashed like displays or anything you want for what ever reason let someone with some authority know. That way if something ends up in some sort of investigation you have someone to go to bat for you.

 

[redcardroy]

Always CYA!