Canyon Cash Gift Cards delayed, but available soon

Mail not making it to its recipient has plagued the start of the Canyon Cash Gift Card sales, according to City of Canyon Lake Management Analyst Tyler Ferrari, who is spearheading the city’s end of the program.

“The check the city sent to our gift card vendor for the payment of the bonus cash was lost in the mail,” Tyler said. “We will be reissuing a check this week. This will delay the opening of the sales of the gift cards to the public. I do not yet have a timeline of when the cards will go on sale.”

Meanwhile, Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce President Jeanne O’Dell, whose organization is co-sponsoring the gift card program, said Canyon Lake businesses have been slow to both sign up and to activate their gift card accounts.

“So far we have had only 18 businesses sign-up to participate and of the 18 only seven of them have activated the link they were sent,” Jeanne said. “We encourage businesses to sign-up and once they have signed up to check their emails for the activation link.”

The city is contributing $15,000 to the program, which go toward bonus cash added onto each of the Canyon Cash Gift Cards purchased by the public to spend at registered Canyon Lake businesses.

“The process couldn’t be easier,” Chuck Golding, Golding Publications owner and Friday Flyer publisher, said. “Both participating as a business and shoppers purchasing the cards is a no brainer. We signed up and within minutes of receiving the email from the city to establish an account, had successfully activated it. We look forward to customers using their free bonus cash toward advertisements and printing with our company.”

When the gift cards are eventually available for purchase, they will be used like a credit card. The business at which the card is used needs to simply manually input the credit card number on the gift card into its point of sale credit card system. The payment is processed the same as its regular Mastercard credit card

With a desire to have the bulk of Canyon Lake businesses participating and able to accept the gift cards Canyon Lake shoppers will be spending, the City of Canyon Lake and the Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce is making a push to get businesses signed up.

The gift cards will only be able to be used at businesses which physically reside inside the city limits of Canyon Lake. The funds being added to the cards was made available to the city by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The promotion tagged “Canyon Cash” will give the full sale amount customers spend with the gift card to the business. There is no fee for businesses to participate and there is no surcharge taken from the sale.

For a business to sign up, it needs to simply go to the chamber’s website,
canyonlakechamber.org, and fill out the short form found there.

“When businesses sign up, they are logged into our system and then are sent a digital activation card within 24 hours,” Tyler said.

When the cards are available for purchase, the city and the chamber will release the website to the public and the cards can be purchased there.

Businesses must be located within the City of Canyon Lake and can be home-based businesses. They are not required to be members of the Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce, however, those businesses that are not members, but sign up for the program, can join the Chamber at discounted rates.

The cards will be in denominations of $25 (the city will add a free $10 bonus), $50 (the city will add a free $25 bonus) and $100 (the city will add a free $50 bonus). The city’s bonus money is coming from funds it received from ARPA, which are to be used to benefit its businesses.

“The City of Canyon Lake is pleased to be able to offer this program to its residents,” Tyler said. “This year, the City Council has made it a goal of the city to begin the implementation of our plans for ARPA funding, to expand community services and to maintain a positive relationship with local partners.”

This program helps the city meet its goal of finding ways to continue supporting local businesses, Tyler said. The city encourages all of its residents to take advantage of this program and help support its local businesses.

“The Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce is proud to partner with the City of Canyon Lake as we work together to implement this program,” Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce President Jeanne O’Dell said.

“The Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce is committed to engaging with and supporting chamber members and the business community at large. The Canyon Cash eGift Card program is a perfect example of that commitment. It is designed to help local businesses with pandemic recovery and most importantly, keeps the dollars local.”

The city is utilizing California vendor Yiftee to provide support for the program. Yiftee has provided communities across the country with the technology to begin similar programs and these programs have been immensely successful, Tyler said.

Once the $15,000 ARPA funds are exhausted, the city’s bonus it tacks onto each card will end. The gift cards will still be available for purchase, but their value will be just its denomination.

The Chamber of Commerce is offering a discount on new chamber memberships for those who register for the Canyon Cash program. The cost of an annual Business Access membership will be reduced by $25.00 and a Business Access Plus membership will be reduced by $50.00.

The chamber membership discount is a one-time offer and applies to those businesses that are not current chamber members.