No, @flo. Not at all.
I have had rebate cards from stores ‘eat’ themselves a few dollars at a time before I remembered to use them. Say I had a card valued at $15 and they charged $3 a week ‘inactivity’ fee. A month and a have later the balance was $0. That’s wrong, it pisses me off, and it seems to be perfectly legal in the US.
Menard’s is a classic scam. You have to mail in all the ‘original rebate forms’ (collected in store) within a short time, and each rebate requires a separate envelope/postage. They send the rebate as a postcard that anyone can present, and it’s only good for a month or so. The chances of the some-time customer actually getting the rebate and spending it are slim. It’s a scam.
I can see a card bought or rebated expiring after a year or so, just so the issuing company can balance the books, but that date should at least be on the card.