Flipping Gift Cards
Through cloud-based software, GiftCardBin turns consumers’ trash to treasure
When it comes to gift-giving, you can’t go wrong with a gift card, right? Well, not exactly. Research shows that more than $1 billion in gift cards go unredeemed. Based in West Sacramento, GiftCardBin has been banking on that stat since 2008, buying and selling gift cards that might otherwise go to waste. (Like the $25 Starbucks card you probably have in your wallet right now.)
A Life of Spice
Calling All Dreamers’ winner Allspicery prepares to open in downtown Sacramento
With more than 200 spices, salts and seasonings in stock at downtown’s new Allspicery, variety isn’t just the spice of life. It’s a life of spice for owner Heather Wong.
A Matter of Privacy
Sen. Mark Leno on the fight for privacy in the digital age
California State Sen. Mark Leno is often at odds with his Republican counterparts in the Legislature. But there is one area where Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, has regularly found bipartisan agreement: protecting consumers’ digital privacy.
Transplant Your Garden
Why I choose to call the Capital Region home
It’s important for transplants to realize that our greatest strength can also be our greatest liability. What we bring to the table is a disregard for what, allegedly, cannot be done. But it’s important to understand the context in which our ideas are being received. We need to be just as willing to learn as we are to create.
YP Trivia Giveaway
It’s that time of year again! That’s right, our 2016 top young professionals issue is almost here. To celebrate, we are giving away four tickets to the upcoming Metro EDGE Emerge Summit on March 18. Trust us, if you are a young professional in the Sacramento area, you won’t want to miss this event.
Status Check: Comics in the Capital Region
Last year we reported on the growing comic convention scene in the Capital Region (“Level Up” by Bill Romanelli, May 2015). Check out what the comic world has been up to since then:
Save the U.S. From the Harvard-Educated Oligarchy
The late Justice Antonin Scalia argued last year that there was something wrong with having a Supreme Court composed entirely of people who had studied at Harvard and Yale law schools.
Opinion: A $15 Wage Works in Parts of California, Not All
California has reached a deal to raise its statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour. This would certainly be a breathtakingly broad political experiment. The question is whether it will turn into a breathtaking disaster.
A Growing Green Debt?
As PACE takes off, realtors warn that unwary homeowners are complicating their finances
Call it the tale of two turfs. In summer 2014, 27-year-old Benjamin Triffo wanted to do something about his dry, unattractive yard. He owns a four-bedroom, four-bath duplex in Elk Grove that he’d bought in 2011, and his sprinkler lines were broken. But with the state passing rules last July that would allow fines for overwatering, Triffo quickly figured out that replacing his system and re-sodding would be like attaching a drain line to his checkbook.
Which Students Do For-Profit Schools Serve?
Dependent students at for-profit colleges have about 50 percent less family income than students attending community colleges and four-year public or private nonprofit colleges.