A recent article on Forbes.com entitled How to Avoid Getting Stuck with a Worthless Gift Card has the following advice:

So before you buy a gift card–particularly one you don’t expect will be used immediately–you may want to check out the financial health of the retailer or restaurant that issued it.

Right, people are going to go out of their way to check out the financial health of gift card issuers.  This is not likely for gift card givers and even less likely for recipients.

We have some better advice:  If you want to avoid getting stuck with a worthless gift card (a) don’t buy them, but if you do receive one (b) SPEND IT IMMEDIATELY!