Are those gift certificates as good as cash?

WARWICK-We all do it, no matter how organized we are. We lose them, or stick them in a drawer or wallet and just forget about them. They are gift cards or gift certificates. When we finally come upon them, sometimes we find out they have expired and the nice thought that went into buying the card is all for naught. Most people are of the impression the cards are just like cash. That is not always the case. For one thing, cash doesn't expire. Many cards have an expiration date, most commonly one year from the date of purchase. Some people assume that once that date has come and gone, the card is no longer valid. That is not always true. It never hurts to ask if a business will honor the card even after the expiration. Someone did pay for it already, so the business had that cash in hand. Last summer Rockland County legislators passed legislation stating that gift cards and certificates sold in Rockland County can not have an expiration date. It was the first legislation of its kind in New York State, according to County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef.