Customers in State College and around the country are choosing plastic over paper and it has nothing to do with grocery bags.

Plastic gift cards are being used in increasing amounts throughout the country and a growing number of State College businesses are following suit.

Ray Agostinelli, owner of McLanahan's Student Store, 414 E. College Ave., said he has seen sales of gift cards rise since he switched from paper to plastic in September 2005.

He said he has received faxes and e-mail messages from alumni looking to buy the cards for friends and parents wanting them for their students.

Agostinelli said he attributes the increase in demand to the fact that customers don't have to spend the entire amount on the card when they come in, as they had to do with the paper gift certificates.

"If they just want to buy a soda, they can buy it," he said.

Since plastic gift cards were first introduced in 1998, the demand for them has risen by an estimated 300 percent, said Push Venkitasamy, vice president of manufacturing for Illinois-based Versatile Card Technology, Inc.

"It's a considerable change," Venkitasamy said.

He said the hard plastic cards are more desirable for consumers than paper gift certificates because they are more attractive and easy to use.

"It's like having a credit card in your wallet," he said.

Businesses also like the plastic cards because the manufacturing cost does not vary much from the paper gift certificates, he said

Andrew Clapper, general manager of Qdoba Mexican Grille, 206 W. College Ave., said since opening last year, thousands of gift cards were sold.

Most of them -- about 75 percent -- were sold during the holiday season, Clapper said.

Thad Johnson, manager of the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., said since September 2004, when the bookstore started using plastic gift cards, he has seen sales jump.

"It's been a real popular item on our Web site," Johnson said.

Alumni are the primary buyers on the Web site, but at the beginning of the semester a lot of parents buy gift cards with high amounts for incoming students, he said.

Instead of swiping a credit card or paying cash, students use the gift card as an account with the store and add more money to it at the beginning of each semester when they need to buy books, he said.

It is also much more convenient for the store, Johnson said. Transactions are smoother with the plastic gift cards and computer systems can track the cards, he said.

Lauren Evans (freshman-communications and public relations) and Tia Deverts (freshman-psychology) said they have both received the plastic cards as gifts this year for a variety of retailers.

However, not all businesses are transforming their gift-giving techniques into plastic.

Although he has looked into the plastic cards, Tom McKibbin, the owner of Dee's Restaurant, 234 E. College Ave., said he still prints his own paper gift certificates.