While most cards arriving in your mailbox will need manual activation at some point, there are some instances in which credit cards may be delivered pre-activated.

So I was surprised to hear that Target was tacking a fee of $4 onto its cards. “We don’t charge an activation fee for our own cards,” responded Jenna Reck, a Target spokeswoman.

Generally speaking, gift cards bearing the logo of a financial network such as Discover or American Express cost an additional $3 to $6 to activate at the time of purchase.

Why does it cost $4 to activate a gift card? Carol Powell, 67, posed that question to me after being told by a Target cashier about the cost for getting a $25 prepaid card up and running. Powell ...

“The activation fee is charged by Visa,” she said. Not so fast, a Visa spokesman told me. “Visa does not set gift-card fees, nor do we receive any portion of those fees,” said Paul Cohen.

Store gift cards — good only for a particular retailer — tend not have such fees. You pay $25 for the card, and the recipient has $25 worth of store credit to enjoy.