D.C. to AT&T: All Your Unused Minutes Are Belong to Us

http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/03/dc-to-att-all-your-unused-minu

by miked • 17 years ago

31 26 17 years ago

patio11• 17 years ago

If you're surprised by this legal requirement, see here: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20060127a1.asp

This was almost a pain point for me when I thought of offering rebates the first time ("Buy today and get 10% back"), since some states require unclaimed rebates to be escheated. It turns out that the service I was thinking of using (RebateDelivery) handles this nonsense for you.

billymeltdown• 17 years ago

From the original wire article:

> "AT&T's prepaid calling cards must be treated as unclaimed property under district law," the attorney general's office said in a statement.

More from the wire article:

> According to the attorney general's office, that sum, known in the industry as "breakage," represents some 5 to 20 percent of the total balances purchased by consumers who use the calling cards.

It's actually an interesting bit of case law insomuch as how the law applies to modern technologies, and if it IS in fact the case that AT&T has to turn the minutes over as unclaimed, a cash-strapped operation like D.C. would be crazy to leave the money sitting on the table.

NathanKP• 17 years ago

If this is established as a precedent though how far will it apply? Do ISP's have to turn unused internet bandwidth over to the government too? It doesn't seem feasible.

allenp• 17 years ago

I think the difference is that the calling cards are for a set number of minutes and a monthly internet service is just a on/off thing. The other thing I wonder about though is gift cards - I'm sure there have to be tons of dollars that expire on those all the time. Does the gov take a cut?

mschy• 17 years ago

Escheatment isn't new. If you abandon a bank account, the bank escheats it to the state.

If you then notify the state that they have your money (such as via http://ucp.dor.wa.gov/ ), then you can file a claim, and they'll give you the money.

Phone cards are basically just (small) deposit accounts that are withdrawn against for one particular purchase. It makes a lot of sense that they'd fall under the same law.

Your "slippery slope" example on the other hand doesn't seem to match, because ISPs charge a fixed price for daily access. They don't (currently) take a deposit and then debit that account based on usage. If they did, then it seems like it might fall under the same laws.

jcnnghm2• 17 years ago

DC is only cash strapped because of gross mismanagement and systematic corruption.

mbreese4• 17 years ago

I don't see how that is relevant in this instance. It very well might be the truth, but I hardly find it relevant to this discussion. The question poised (does unused minutes on a calling card a) have value, and b) can be viewed as unclaimed property) is independent of the quality of the DC gov't. Sure, they might not be bringing this up if they had more resources (for whatever reason), but that doesn't necessarily taint the question.

rauljara• 17 years ago

Not saying there isn't gross mismanagement and systematic corruption, but not being a state also puts DC at a serious disadvantage. They don't have access to state funds, or any government programs that only work through states (though many government programs working through states do make a point of including DC, not all do). Also, they lose out on a lot of corruption not having senators at all. Senators regularly ship large amount of pork back to their state. No senators, no pork.

A large city in your average state can get away with a lot more corruption and mismanagement than DC could. They'd have state government, certain national programs, and national representatives to fall back on. DC gets none of that.

geuis• 17 years ago

Link to the actual article http://us.mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/AnyArticle/p.rdt?URL=h...

D.C. to AT&T: All Your Unused Minutes Are Belong to Us

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