I have a Chapters gift card for $25. On the back is the presumably unique bar-code for the card, and the numeric equivalent for the bar-code written underneath. The number is 31 digits long. That makes possible roughly a nonillion (thanks wikipedia!) unique gift cards. If Chapters sells a million gift cards a year, they won’t run out of numbers until roughly septillion years from now. This puts my credit card, with its mere 16 digits, to shame.

So, what’s the big deal? Who cares? They will just scan the card through the cash register anyway. You don’t care about the numbers on the back. Well, it turns out that you do if you want to buy The Black Swan and Use of Weapons using the Chapters website. To use your gift card on the web you have to type in the 31 digit code by hand, and then when it turns out to be incorrect you have to type it in again, and then a 3rd time. And then eventually, after typing in 31*n (n depending on your tolerance for repetitive tasks) numbers, you give up and swear at Chapters.

So, what’s the lesson? First: 31 digits is a few too many. Second: there should be a mechanism for using gift cards on the web that doesn’t involve typing in numbers at all.