Visa Gift Card - Hole Punchable?
July 26, 2022 4:22 PM Subscribe
Can I punch a hole in a corner of a Visa gift card, so that it can be worn around the neck on a lanyard and spent?
My (early elementary school age) kid is going on a camp trip tomorrow to a place that does not accept cash. He has money that he has saved and would like to spend, so we got him a Visa gift card in that amount.
It's the first time he'll be spending money without us, so he is anxious about losing the card. He would feel better if we could punch a hole in the card (in anon-barcode corner) and put it on a lanyard for his neck. He would prefer a hole in the card over putting the card in a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard.
Is this workable? When I hold the card up to the light, I do not see a RFID chip. I have a soldering iron that could do the job cleanly.
My (early elementary school age) kid is going on a camp trip tomorrow to a place that does not accept cash. He has money that he has saved and would like to spend, so we got him a Visa gift card in that amount.
It's the first time he'll be spending money without us, so he is anxious about losing the card. He would feel better if we could punch a hole in the card (in anon-barcode corner) and put it on a lanyard for his neck. He would prefer a hole in the card over putting the card in a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard.
Is this workable? When I hold the card up to the light, I do not see a RFID chip. I have a soldering iron that could do the job cleanly.
In my experience (two years managing in retail) gift cards are magstripe only, and don’t have EMV chips or contactless payment capability. Make sure you don’t punch through the stripe or the number, and it should be fine.
posted by fedward at 5:03 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by fedward at 5:03 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
It will work fine, but you can't 100% ensure some cashier won't balk and refuse to run an obviously altered card. Which is also fair imo, if not all that likely, given what I imagine the context would be like. Maybe ask him if he feels lucky and would he be ok not being able to buy anything if a problem occurs…
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:23 PM on July 26, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:23 PM on July 26, 2022 [8 favorites]
(Somewhat related, I recently chaperoned a middle school band trip to an amusement park and a lot of the kids didn’t realize there was a certain way to swipe the cards/when to swipe versus insert and the teenage cashiers weren’t exactly quick to jump in and explain either, so perhaps practice at home in some way if possible).
posted by raccoon409 at 5:50 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by raccoon409 at 5:50 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm sure this isn't universal, but normally when I see a hole punched in a card of some kind it means it shouldn't be used.
posted by jameaterblues at 5:57 PM on July 26, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by jameaterblues at 5:57 PM on July 26, 2022 [15 favorites]
jameaterblues: I'm sure this isn't universal, but normally when I see a hole punched in a card of some kind it means it shouldn't be used.
Punching holes in things makes me think of the CDs we used to get to rummage through as employees of Tower Records. Punching a hole in the jewel case right where the bar code was made it clear that the CD wasn't meant to be sold anymore.
My old badge for work didn't have an RFID chip in it, and it had a hole punched in it so that it could be clipped on a retractable string thing that hooked on my belt loop. Years of use led to the badge itself breaking almost as often as the retractable... thing. Now we have new ID badges with RFID built in, and they include a plastic sleeve and the same flimsy plastic retractable thing.
posted by emelenjr at 6:59 PM on July 26, 2022
Punching holes in things makes me think of the CDs we used to get to rummage through as employees of Tower Records. Punching a hole in the jewel case right where the bar code was made it clear that the CD wasn't meant to be sold anymore.
My old badge for work didn't have an RFID chip in it, and it had a hole punched in it so that it could be clipped on a retractable string thing that hooked on my belt loop. Years of use led to the badge itself breaking almost as often as the retractable... thing. Now we have new ID badges with RFID built in, and they include a plastic sleeve and the same flimsy plastic retractable thing.
posted by emelenjr at 6:59 PM on July 26, 2022
I'm with fedward.
There's nothing technical that will disable the card if you do this. Cashiers don't give a flip what the card looks like. If the card and/or number is stolen there is no risk to the rest of your finances.
This is a little kid that can learn proper handling of cash and payment cards later on. I think you're just fine, and IMO it's a smart idea.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:25 AM on July 27, 2022
There's nothing technical that will disable the card if you do this. Cashiers don't give a flip what the card looks like. If the card and/or number is stolen there is no risk to the rest of your finances.
This is a little kid that can learn proper handling of cash and payment cards later on. I think you're just fine, and IMO it's a smart idea.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:25 AM on July 27, 2022
I recently worked for a company that manufactured gift cards, but not VISA. If the card does not have a chip or tap capability then you can punch a hole in it safely. Do it near the edge opposite the stripe. My only caveat is that you could potentially initiate a delamination condition; the card is manufactured by laminating 3 or 4 layers together (clear sheets front and back and a center that is either one or two layers). Sometimes the manufacturing process doesn't get them all melted together completely and your new hole could be the starting point for the layers to separate. It probably won't happen; anybody approved to make VISA cards probably has their processes down pretty well. Worst case it happens and the layer on the back with the magstripe comes off. It won't fly off when you do the punch but look around the edges of the hole and you might see the separation beginning. Try punching some other old cards you have around to see if the punch is smooth or tears the plastic.
Two things you also need to consider: physical and magnetic damage to the magstripe while it's windmilling around your young one's neck. Obviously any magnets in close proximity to the stripe can mess up the encoding, in fact for some cards the magnetization is so fragile that you can put two cards together back-to-back and one of the cards can transfer its coding to the other! Hopefully the card has HiCo stripe so it is maximally resistant to stray magnetic fields. Large scratches across the stripe can also disrupt the encoding enough to make it fail. The magnetization won't "rub off" but there are plenty of other ways to physically destroy the readability.
FYI, the cards' information is encoded in a format that "looks like" a barcode. You can visualize it with a special liquid - a suspension of iron (or other particles) that is applied to the magstripe - as it evaporates the particles are attracted to the magnetization, creating a latent image. And it looks like a barcode; distinct vertical stripes about 1/4" tall with quiet zones, ideally centered in the stripe.
(edit before post) On re-read I see you're planning on melting the hole - that should avoid the delam problems but be careful when you clean up the edges.
posted by achrise at 10:50 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Two things you also need to consider: physical and magnetic damage to the magstripe while it's windmilling around your young one's neck. Obviously any magnets in close proximity to the stripe can mess up the encoding, in fact for some cards the magnetization is so fragile that you can put two cards together back-to-back and one of the cards can transfer its coding to the other! Hopefully the card has HiCo stripe so it is maximally resistant to stray magnetic fields. Large scratches across the stripe can also disrupt the encoding enough to make it fail. The magnetization won't "rub off" but there are plenty of other ways to physically destroy the readability.
FYI, the cards' information is encoded in a format that "looks like" a barcode. You can visualize it with a special liquid - a suspension of iron (or other particles) that is applied to the magstripe - as it evaporates the particles are attracted to the magnetization, creating a latent image. And it looks like a barcode; distinct vertical stripes about 1/4" tall with quiet zones, ideally centered in the stripe.
(edit before post) On re-read I see you're planning on melting the hole - that should avoid the delam problems but be careful when you clean up the edges.
posted by achrise at 10:50 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Technically, it may be possible and not damaging to the card to punch a hole in it, if it doesn't have some kind of RFID protection built in, but not every card is going to work that way.
posted by emelenjr at 4:33 PM on July 26, 2022 [3 favorites]