ABA Letter to Senator Chuck Schumer

Hon. Chuck Schumer
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chuck:

I was pleased to read about your efforts to inform consumers about some of the pitfalls about gift cards … keep up the good work! As you acknowledged, there are some retailers doing the right thing and offering programs without inactivity fees or expiration dates.

We have just launched such a program for independent bookstores all across the country as part of our overall Book Sense marketing campaign. Not only do Book Sense gift cards have no inactivity fees or expiration dates, they eventually will be good at a network of independent stores in all 50 states. With regard to bookstores, as you continue to discuss gift cards, I hope you will point out that each program is different, and consumers are well advised to ask for the details. We're pleased to say that our program has no fine print and you get what you pay for!

As I said, our program is just now getting off the ground, but we do have four stores (listed below) in New York State already participating and, on behalf of ABA, I am pleased to enclose a $25 Book Sense Gift Card that is good in any one of these stores. We hope in your travels across the state you will give our program a try!

Warm regards.

Sincerely,
Oren J. Teicher
Chief Operating Officer

cc:
Lift Bridge Book Shop, 45 Main Street, Brockport
(585) 637-2260; web: http://liftbridge.booksense.com

Hudson Valley Book Stop, 1200 Ulster Avenue, Kingston
(845) 336-6450; web: http://www.hudsonvalleybookstop.com

Ariel Booksellers, 3 Plattekill Avenue, New Paltz
(845) 255-8041

Bank Street Bookstore, 610 West 112th Street, New York
(212) 678-1654