Gift cards

I came across this entry while reading the Limited Brands 10K.
"During the fourth quarter of 2007, we recognized $48 million in pretax income related to the initial recognition of gift card breakage at Victoria’s Secret."
Victoria’s Secret had operating income of $718m that year, which means 6.7% came from these "breakages." Assuming that $48m is spread over 3 years, as much as 2% of each year's pretax income comes from gift card breakage.

This is from a retailer that sell gift cards with no expiration dates and also do not charge administrative fees on unused gift cards.

I found a couple of $50 VS gift cards for sale at $41 on Ebay, implying 18% value destruction as soon as you buy a gift card.

Why does anyone give gift cards?