Consumers may use a financial transaction account, which may be associated with an account number and/or transaction instrument (e.g., charge card, credit card, debit card, gift card, etc.), as a form of payment or for identification in various transactions. However, sufficient inventory management systems and tracking methods do not exist for distribution of many financial transaction instruments.
Distribution of financial transaction instruments may involve the distribution of physical objects directly to retail locations or through a distribution chain. Distribution of, for example, charge cards may take place through various third party distribution centers and distributors in a supply chain. Such systems are not generally configured for detailed tracking of inventory, and systems are generally not in place or sufficient to facilitate providing timely or useful information to the issuer of the transaction instrument.
These limitations on the ability to track inventory have historically not been a strong concern because the product being distributed and/or the method of distributing the product did not raise significant security, loss prevention, and re-claim issues. For example, distributed cards have typically been closed cards. “Closed cards” are cards that may be restricted to use in a particular store or within a particular chain of a stores. One example of a closed card is a pre-paid gift card that may only be purchased at, and only be accepted at, a clothing retailer, such as The Gap®. In contrast, “Open cards” are cards that are generally accepted at different merchants. Examples of open cards include American Express®, Visa®, and Discover®, MasterCard® cards, which may be used at many different retailers and other businesses.
A relatively low level of concern often exists for loss control and inventory management in the distribution of transaction instruments that are closed system, valueless, and/or non-expiring cards in comparison to open system, pre-paid, and/or expiring transaction instruments. As such, the conventional wisdom has been that detailed tracking of the distribution of prepaid cards, charge cards, credit cards, and the like, may not be cost effective. By way of example, closed cards generally do not have expiration dates; and because of this, there typically has been no reason to reclaim the unsold cards after a period of time has elapsed.
However, it is presently becoming desirable to distribute open financial transaction instruments (e.g., open debit/credit cards) in a publicly accessible manner. For example, it is desirable to hang an open card on a rack in high foot traffic areas of a store. Such a method of distributing may tend to increase the effectiveness of card distribution. However, open cards may have an expiration date associated with the card. Furthermore, the distribution of open cards may increase the need for of security measures.
Thus, there exists a need for systems and methods that facilitate determining the location of a financial transaction instrument (e.g., a card) and reclaiming the financial transaction instrument in advance of its expiration date. More generally, there exist a need for inventory management systems and methods that can track the distribution of open financial transaction instruments.