3 p.m. Sharp, 20,000 Rush In... 'This Card' Sells Out in 33 Minutes—What Is It?

15% cashback during the Korea Grand Festival
20,000 users queued on the first day of the time change; sold out in 33 minutes

Jeonju City changed the top-up time for the Jeonju Love Gift Certificate (Pig Card) to reduce inconvenience for residents, but complaints poured in after users experienced access delays and the budget was exhausted early on the first day of the change.

Jeonju Love Gift Certificate waiting screen. Yonhap News.

According to Jeonju City on November 2, the budget for the Jeonju Love Gift Certificate (Pig Card), whose top-up time was changed from 12:15 a.m. to 3 p.m., was exhausted 33 minutes after sales opened that day.

Jeonju City had earlier decided to act on a suggestion to change the gift certificate top-up time, which received the most support on the “Two-way Communication Space,” a civic engagement platform launched in August.

The city expected the change to ease the burden on residents who had to wait until around midnight at the start of each month to buy gift certificates. However, more than 20,000 people crowded into the dedicated app as soon as top-ups began, causing access disruptions for over 30 minutes. Most residents reportedly received a “funds exhausted” pop-up without being able to reach the payment screen, even after getting a place in the queue.

Online demand was particularly concentrated that day ahead of offline top-ups for digitally disadvantaged groups, including older adults, available the following day from 9 a.m. at Jeonbuk Bank branches. Demand also surged because the “Korea Grand Festival” coincided with the offer of a total 15% cashback benefit, combining the usual 10% with an additional 5%.

Complaints also poured in from residents who had to wait with their smartphones during work hours. Some criticized the city, saying that by changing only the top-up time to daytime without fundamentally expanding server capacity or increasing the amount issued, Jeonju City had instead caused users to flood in all at once, adding to confusion and frustration.

Jeonju Love Gift Certificates issued in Jeonju, a city with a population of 620,000, total 6.3 billion won (5.8 billion won online and 500 million won offline). The monthly purchase limit is 300,000 won, and residents can receive 30,000 won in cashback if they use the full limit. This is far short of the amounts issued in county areas elsewhere in the province, where populations are around 20,000 and issuance totals are in the tens of billions of won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.