Maybe these timer works for people who play a lot. Contrary to Frodo's derogatory comment that it takes mental faculties to work this out, the concept is simple. Claim it and use it when you know you have the time.
But for people like me that play a total of 2 hours a week, sometimes in little 20 minutes spurts, it's more complex than that. One day I might get a nice LBOD. The next day I turn it in, and the best reward is a talisman that will expire in 24 hours. So I have to decide if sometime in the next 24 hours I'll get 1500 verite ore, which I won't. So I either store the BOD for another day (and I already have enough of these "another day" project).. Or I lowball the reward and pick some powder of fortification that won't expire.. Or like last time, I picked it not knowing yet how the time worked, got minimal return on my reward before it expired.
I'd enjoy it a lot more if I could get my verite map. The next day go locate the ore and mark a rune, the day after that go dig it up. Or just say, oh well, just give up BODs, I just want to play a little and this takes more micro-management than I'm willing to give it. I get a lot more bang for the buck by 20 minutes hunting a greater dragon or two and just harvest a little gold and hides. And a lot less micro-management without worry of some stupid timer that will expire.
So I understand the time management aspect. I just don't like the artificial sense of urgency to complete use up a reward within a certain time frame. It's the same reason I haven't attempted any of the dungeons that require keys with timers, that game wasn't aimed at players like me. And I'm ok with that. But crafting *is* aimed at players like me, or at least it was before crafting reward timers were introduced.
Bah. Humbug.