An infographic showing the amount of money one would need to piss away to acquire the Steel Card; the extra Benji pushing it $1100 accounts for the price inflation that will likely occur in the hours before publication

Remember that limited edition, stainless steel Starbucks gift card? The one that cost $450, of which only $400 went towards gingerbread lattes and lemon squares? Now that all 5,000 are sold out, the card will now cost you upwards of $1000 on eBay. At the time of writing, there are cards available for the bargain-basement sums of $650 or $900 (only $250-$500 above its in-store value!); but if you search the listings for sold items, plenty of suckers out there forked over 4 figures for this hunk of metal purchasing power.

With a brand as ubiquitous and global as Starbucks, it isn't a surprise that any item remotely desirable and in low supply associated with the place has garnered this much demand. My main issue with this card is that you're paying so much money for a dumb slab of metal that is no more functional than its free plastic counterparts. Isn't payment going digital? Shouldn't a gift card that comes with $50 parts and labor surcharge connect to The Cloud and post your coffee purchases to Twitter and Facebook?

When Starbucks finally meets its demise, hopefully in our lifetime, I can't wait to tell my descendants about the time its rabid fans enabled a secondary scalper's market for a gift card.

via The Daily Meal