Gift Cards

It's the fight of the little gal against the corporate giant. Danielle Wallace, the young Northeast Philadelphia woman who was wrongly accused of theft while working as a cashier at a Walmart in the Far Northeast in 2009, has sued the company and one of its employees. The suit, filed last week in Common Pleas Court seeking more than $50,000 in damages accuses Walmart and Thomas Morell - the employee who accused her of the thefts - of malicious prosecution, false arrest, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

A state-sponsored cash-for-guns program for Camden County residents picked up 1,137 firearms over two days, a record number for the state, officials said Tuesday. New Jersey's attorney general said some gun owners who showed up at two Camden churches Friday and Saturday appeared to be motivated by the killings Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Jeffrey S. Chiesa alluded to the possible motive at a news conference at Camden's police department, where heaps of surrendered firearms were on display.

My mother is the only one who still mails me birthday cards. The rest of the world blows up my cellphone and Facebook wall. But I miss the personal notes - getting mail on my special day was fun. Am I alone here? Michael Marchesani doesn't believe I am. That's why the Collegeville-based entrepreneur came up with the direct-mail marketing concept called BirthdayPak. Each month, Marchesani mails 10,000 personalized birthday greetings to affluent women in the Philadelphia area.

Heidi Azar of Cherry Hill knew her mother needed help. Caring for Azar's 91-year-old grandfather, who has Alzheimer's disease, had become a 24-hour-a-day job as his condition worsened over the last two years. "My mom's the one that suffers to some degree," Azar said. "She doesn't want to put him in a home but . . . everyone needs some time away in these situations. " Azar suspected her mother would be reluctant to have a stranger come into her home to help. Then she heard of a new product offered by TLC HomeCare Services of Moorestown: respite packaged as pampering.

How do you take the most popular gift in America and make it better? How do you enhance the gift-giving experience for both the giver and recipient? A company tackled these questions a year ago and in September launched the answer: Giftly, a service that takes gift cards to the next level. Recently I spoke with Tim Bentley, the CEO of Giftly, about how he is revolutionizing the gift card industry. According to Bentley, nearly $100 million worth of gift cards will be given this year and 95 percent of adults have either given or received gift cards.

Chester will hold a gun exchange on Saturday, the mayor's office announced. In exchange for a weapon during the "Goods for Guns" program, participants will receive $100 ShopRite supermarket gift card, that can be used at the Eddystone location. Those who turn over an assault weapon will receive additional money. There is a two-gun limit for the gift cards. The weapons will be collected between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at either of the Chester firehouses, located at 320 E. 14th St. and 1501 W. Third St. Last year, close to 300 guns were exchanged in a similar program, the mayor's office said.

As shoppers snapped back into action yesterday, one self-described Scrooge sat alone in Franklin Mills Mall, surveying and scorning the scene. "A bunch of idiots!" said Bill Lawn, 74, a Philadelphia retiree calmly sipping coffee and reading a newspaper at Gloria Jean's Coffee. "People allow their religious beliefs to be so commercialized that they don't even know what Christmas means anymore. " Religion aside, the meaning of Christmas may be changing - for merchants. Retailers said yesterday's big crowds at the malls affirmed that Dec. 25 had come to be an intermission in seasonal sales rather than a finale, thanks to the ever-growing business in gift cards.

GIFT CARDS, so useful around the holidays. I love them and I hate them. I love them because they're easy. I hate them because they're too easy. They are great for the clueless (you?) who - even today - haven't finished Christmas shopping. Gift cards arose partly, I think, because cash can be seen as gauche or crass. (If you have any of that gauche, crass stuff taking up valuable drawer space, send it to me. I know how to safely dispose of it.) U.S. gift-card transactions passed $100 billion last year for the first time, according to the research firm TowerGroup.

TRENTON - Two major players in the gift-card market announced plans Thursday to pull out of New Jersey rather than comply with a law that lets the state claim the value of unredeemed cards after just two years. Blackhawk Network and InComm made separate announcements that they would quit doing business in New Jersey in June unless the law is reversed. The companies - third-party providers of gift cards to malls, groceries, and convenience stores - told the Associated Press it was too hard to comply with the changes in New Jersey's unclaimed-property law. The law requires gift-card sellers to obtain zip codes from buyers so the state can claim the value of unused cards.

It's been 12 days since Christmas. Go redeem your gift cards! That's my takeaway after a chat with Brian Riley, a senior research director in the retail banking and cards practice at TowerGroup. He studies the retail industry and calculates that in this new year, $2 billion in gift-card purchases will go unredeemed. Some will be lost. Others misplaced. And some recipients are simply not motivated to shop at certain retailers. Believe it or not, the $2 billion figure will represent an improvement.

A Gloucester County woman was sentenced today in Superior Court to 24 years in prison for fatally stabbing an ironworker in 2010, authorities said. Lori A. Hummel, 41, mother of a teenage daughter, admitted last month to stabbing Thomas Carbin, 54, an acquaintance, in the neck after going to his apartment above the Tower Tavern in Westville on Dec. 5. She had intended to rob him. Carbin had worked as a welder and pipe fitter. The next day, Carbin's daughter, then a high school senior, found the burly ironworker's body slumped in a chair in front of the computer in the apartment he shared with his cats, George and Frankie.

A coalition of Chester County groups will host a "Gun Buy Back" day Saturday at the Coatesville Memorial Community Center. The event is a "no-hassle, no-questions-asked, no-arrests-made" opportunity to turn in firearms, organizers say. Participants will receive a $100 gift card per gun and will be paid for a maximum of two guns, receiving a total maximum payment of $200 in gift cards. Additional guns may be turned in, but no payment will be received. The event is an effort to combat gun-related violence in the community, said Chaya Scott, director of the Coatesville Youth Initiative which has a gun buy back program as part of their mission.

Chester County police knew something else was amiss when they saw the driver of the car suspected in a hit-and-run crash throw credit cards out the window - lots of them. David Carroll and Rochelle Fraser, both of South Jamaica, New York have been charged with identity theft, forgery, theft and other related crimes, according to the West Whiteland Township police. On Jan. 25, Carroll was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident on North Pottstown Pike in Exton. Police saw Carroll's car traveling south on Route 100 after the crash.

BELMAR, N.J. - Soon after Hurricane Sandy, the donations came pouring in to Belmar from as far away as Sweden, where someone donated $50. And the money quickly started flowing back out. The borough handed out more than $90,000 in gift cards from local businesses, according to Belmar's records. Taverns and restaurants figured heavily in the mix of donated gift cards as people without electricity found eating at home difficult after the storm. Hardware stores also were big. Acknowledging that the donations helped many at a time of chaos, one councilman in Belmar wants to know who benefited.

A Gloucester County woman pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of a 54-year-old steelworker in his Westville apartment in December 2010. Under a plea deal, Lori A. Hummel, 41, of Thorofare, faces 24 years in prison and must serve 20 years and four months of that before becoming eligible for parole, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said. She also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin while in custody in the Salem County jail in December and will face a four-year term to be served concurrently with her manslaughter sentence.

Forgot about Valentine's Day? Love's way can still be smoothed. Load your smartphone with the romantic app Couple , by TenthBit Inc. It's free for Android and iPhone. Once you've signed up, Couple will e-mail or text your beloved with the entreaty, "Let's use Couple together. " Couple is like Facebook for just two people. You send goo-goo notes and videos, collect pictures on a mutual timeline, and share calendars and lists. A shared sketch-pad feature allows two to draw simultaneously on the touchscreen, and Couple encourages lovers to "ThumbKiss" by pressing fingers on the same spot.

Forgot about Valentine's Day? Love's way can still be smoothed. Load your smartphone with the romantic app Couple , by TenthBit Inc. It's free for Android and iPhone. Once you've signed up, Couple will e-mail or text your beloved with the entreaty, "Let's use Couple together. " Couple is like Facebook for just two people. You send goo-goo notes and videos, collect pictures on a mutual timeline, and share calendars and lists. A shared sketch-pad feature allows two to draw simultaneously on the touchscreen, and Couple encourages lovers to "ThumbKiss" by pressing fingers on the same spot.

DEAR ABBY: I just found out that my girlfriend of nearly four years had an abortion when she was in high school. I overheard her during a conversation she was having with someone. I later asked her what was implied when the name of her ex-boyfriend from high school was brought up. She proceeded to tell me what had happened and then said, "I never told you that?" My reaction is feelings of disgust, betrayal and of having been lied to. Am I overreacting or are my feelings warranted?

The story of crowds overrunning stores the day after Christmas continued its shift to near-mythical status Wednesday as consumers' ongoing frugality - combined with the growing community of online-shopping devotees - meant that post-holiday commerce was likely to disappoint retailers relying on brick-and-mortar locations to sell their wares. Healthy throngs braved sleet and chilling rain to partake in the annual tradition of returning unwanted holiday gifts, looking for post-holiday discounts, or just killing time during a vacation week.