It’s Wednesday, which means that this morning I spent five minutes in line for the pleasure of drinking my free Tall Starbuck’s Iced Coffee. Ya’ll know how much I enjoy this savvy promotion, as it has single-handedly converted me into a Starbuck’s lover.

Well, today AP writer, Jessica Mintz published this article that uncovers the truth behind the test magic. Apparently, Starbucks is experimenting with varying promotions in stores across the country in an effort to boost domestic sales (remember, they have not had a very good year).

Here is the basic scoop from the AP:

• Starbucks is giving away the 12-ounce iced coffees to anyone who present an Wednesday “iced brewed coffee card” in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, LA and Detroit through July 23 (Though more cities are definitely included, since I am enjoying the promotion in San Francisco)
• Atlanta and Indianapolis are giving away free 12-ounce hot or iced coffee EVERY day through July 14th.
• If you can prove that you are purchasing a second drink with a receipt, Starbucks is selling a 16-ounce cold beverage for $2 after 2 p.m., or get a $1 discount on a cold drink after 1 p.m.
• The company is also selling discounted drinks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in some places.

Obviously, these promotions vary to reflect regional differences. Starbucks will wait to see how current promotions work before deciding if any get extended.

If you’ve come across any information about where these promotions are taking place, please let us know. Seems like even the AP isn’t really clear on the details.

I feel as if my second job is in the bankruptcy courts. Who’s the unlucky company d’jour? Steve & Barry’s.

The discount clothing chain filed bankruptcy for protection today, blaming the sluggish economy and tight credit markets. Steve and Barry’s operate 276 locations in 39 states and made a big splash with merchandising endorsements from Sarah Jessica Parker this year. They are considering selling some of their assets to pay for the debt.

As always, the bankruptcy is fresh, so no word on their gift cards. In my opinion, go and spend them! Don’t think about it, just go spend them. Remember The Sharper Image incident? $75M in gift cards are not being honored. I’ll keep you posted.

-Austin Chu

One of the most important gift card questions is: Where does money from the unused gift card go?

I was reading about the 2007 legislation in Wisconsin that would mandate that the value of unused gift cards go to the state treasury. Wisconsin is not the only state making this type of move.

New Jersey introduced this year that they plan to require abandoned gift card balances to go to the state.

Nevada also requires a certain portion of an unused gift cards to revert to the state where they are used for educational purposes.

In Rhode Island a law was passed that allows the Division of Taxation to take funds paid for unredeemed gift certificates.

What does it all mean?
There is a common misconception that unused gift cards go back to the merchants, and this is clearly not true in all cases. A lot of this money is diverted to the state for schools, health care and roads. Typically, the merchant does keep a percentage though.

For gift card laws in your state, check out the below links– and remember to always manage and keep track of your gift cards.

States Gift Card Laws 1

States Gift Card Laws 2

Also, don’t forget to spend them, please.

-Thanks

Sharper Image been resurrected, but only as a brand.

Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners have realized that there’s still some value in the Sharper Image name, so they will rent out the name out to companies, and lend credibility to infomercial and catalog products. They are even talking about wholesaling to Target and Best Buy, in hopes of reaching annual sales of $1B.

Fellow SavvyWallet readers, even if Sharper Image has come back to life - I believe the The Sharper Image gift cards may be invalid forever. That means there are $25M in worthless gift cards out there in the wake of this Sharper Image bankruptcy, and it seems like there should be a rally of some sort to get some funds back. Even if the consumers don’t get their money back, The Sharper Image should donate funds to charities. Don’t let them keep the name, without paying the price!

-Austin Chu

I found myself playing moderator at a family anniversary party this last weekend.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s witnessed or participated in the occasional heated debate amongst family members—in my family, it’s not a rarity.  On the contrary, it happens with such regularity that we decided this time around to have a formal debate to celebrate the election year.  Topics discussed included the economy, energy and health care.

Obviously there’s an overwhelming amount of information to support the economic downturn of the last couple years.  We have store closures and mall vacancies at a 28 year all time high. The White House Web site reports unemployment rates are at 5.5%, up by .06% since January 2008.  Don’t even get me started on the housing crisis.  And did you ever think that “grocery inflation” would become part of your every day vocabulary?

Ugh…anyone else looking for some good news?

Well, fellow economically depressed and deprived friends, I’m here to give you some:

Yahoo! News reports that oil prices dropped for the second consecutive day yesterday.  The US dollar is increasing in value against other currencies.  The Federal Reserve is planning on putting rules and laws in place to protect future homebuyers from shady lending practices and some cities, like Los Angeles, are even seeing a rise in their assessed property value, according to the LA Daily News.

I’m not sayin’ go out and buy that Porsche you always wanted to satisfy that mid-life crisis, America.  All I’m sayin’ is that you can get ready to loosen the choke-hold you’ve had on that wallet of yours…

-Emily McMichael