Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) pitches customers on the idea of personalized gift cards, but there are some restrictions. In its personalization policy, Starbucks tells its customers that "We accept most personalization requests, but we can't honor every one. Some requests may contain trademarks that we don't have the right to use. Others may contain material that we consider inappropriate (such as threatening remarks, derogatory terms, or overtly political commentary) or wouldn't want to see on Starbucks-branded products."

In a column (subscription required) in today's Wall Street Journal, Cato Institute executive vice president David Boaz writes about a friend who had his gift card request rejected because he wanted the phrase laissez-faire -- an ideology that gained prominence in the 18th century and advocated minimal government interference with commerce -- printed on the card. Boaz writes that "at my suggestion, my friend went back to the Web site and asked that his card be issued with the phrase "People Not Profits." Bingo! Starbucks had no problem with that phrase, and the card arrived in a few days.I wondered just what the company's standards were. If "laissez-faire" is unacceptably political, how could the socialist slogan "people not profits" be acceptable?"

The explanation here is pretty clear: as part of its effort brand itself as a neighborhood coffee shop, Starbucks, whose logo is international sign language for overpriced and overrated coffee, wants to avoid being seen as a bastion of free markets and capitalism. The problem is that that is exactly what Starbucks is. This is the moral equivalent of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) banning its customers from putting "Low prices at all costs" on their personalized gift cards.

This gift card-gate personifies everything that I hate about Starbucks. It's a multinational empire passing itself off as a neighborhood coffee shop. That's nothing short of identity theft.

As I'm a Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) shareholder (a very very minor one), I get an annual "bonus" -- a special-edition Starbucks gift card with a little less than $4.00 in value, good for one grande almond latte (or thereabouts). The gift cards are pretty, and seem special, so when I have a little cash in my bank account and get the urge I'll refill it -- then, when I'm totally out of cash and dying for a sticky-sweet cup of milky caffeine, presto! Starbucks.

My friend takes it to a whole new level. She and her husband are both self-employed, and they've set a strict budget that ensures they'll live within their monthly invoices. So she buys a Starbucks card every week or so, on Monday when her spending budget for the week begins anew. That way, if she spends all her cash by Thursday? She can still hang out with me and our boys at Starbucks on Friday afternoon.

It's a hedge against brokeness.

A report in the AP indicates that 12% of all sales at Starbucks are through these refillable gift cards -- that's one in eight lattes. There are many theories about why the cards are so popular, but I'd just like to stake my claim on the concept that buying gift cards ensures that you'll still be able to buy coffee and 'Top Pot' chocolate doughnuts when you've spent all your money!