When your old Uncle Charlie handed you that gift certificate this past Christmas, don’t be surprised if it starts shrinking.

You won’t notice it. Its physical dimensions will change not a bit.

The culprit is something called a dormancy fee, which means the card begins to lose some of its value the longer it goes unused.

Other nasty little erosions of gift — or “stored-value” — cards include a standard “maintenance” fee to keep the card’s value; a fee to purchase the card, above the value of the card itself; a charge for balance inquiries; and fees for replacement of lost or stolen cards.

The topper is an expiration date. Simply put, if you don’t redeem the card within a certain time period it is worth nothing. Whoever got you that card will have wasted his money. And you’ll feel bad because you didn’t read the fine print warning you of such dire consequences.

Things shouldn’t be this way. This legislative session I’ll try again to accomplish what we couldn’t get done last year — pass a bill making gift cards and certificates good for their value, no strings attached.

Twelve states already have laws that either eliminate or limit the restrictions that can be placed on gift certificates or stored-value cards. Similar legislation has been introduced in 38 states, including my attempt last year in West Virginia.

As a general rule, stored-value cards — often issued by a bank — are a worse deal than those issued by a particular department store. The same can probably be said of many general-purpose cards, such as a card which can be used at several stores in a mall. They also come with the same fees outlined above.

On the other hand, in a recent survey by the Montgomery County (Md.) Division of Consumer Affairs, 18 of 30 major retailers charged no fees on their cards. Those merchants will replace them for free, provided a receipt exists.

My efforts to reform consumer gift card laws here were bottled up last year in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill never came up for a committee vote.

Other states have had some success along these lines. In March 2005, the state of New York settled a dispute with the Simon Property Group, which manages malls and shopping centers in 36 states. Among Simon’s concessions, the company agreed to waive its monthly dormancy fee unless the card had not been used for 12 consecutive months.

We hope our friends in the retail industry realize that, even without the fees, gift and stored-value cards are a good deal for the issuer.

After all, who spends exactly $25 or $50 or whatever? Either the holder spends more than the value of the card or he leaves money on it. Either scenario is good for a retailer.

Those who issue stored-value cards also benefit when money is left behind. Unspent amounts left on gift cards amount to more than you might think. Estimates range from 3 to 5 percent of the total value purchased, which total several billion dollars a year.

At about this time, you’re asking, OK, Treasurer Perdue, what’s in it for you? Is it merely the goodness of your own heart that causes you to seek such noble consumer reform?

Yes, I do want to see residents of our state served in a better fashion.

Those unredeemed gift certificates are subject to unclaimed property laws. My office would hold the value for safekeeping. That money could never be spent. One could easily get his money back by filing an unclaimed property form.

My office’s only benefit would be interest earnings off the abandoned certificates or cards. They would not “expire,” or lose their value.

I for one wouldn’t want to pay a department store or bank, only to discover the gift ultimately worthless. My fellow Mountain State residents work far too hard to befall a similar fate. I will be working to remove expiration dates and dormancy fees from gift cards because it’s only fair.

After all, you shouldn’t give something for nothing.