Utterly stupid little things, its money that is less useful in EVERY situation and expires! Even at the store where you can use it, what do you do with the money that’s leftover but too little to spend? Especially at expensive places, you could very well end up with 10-20$ OF YOUR OWN MONEY, that you can’t even use!
I was given a dunkin giftcard for volunteering at a repair cafe. First of all I’m on a diet but secondly I stuffed it in my wallet so quickly I completely forgot about it. The day I remember and go through the trouble of attending such a wretched establishment I was told it expired after I finished giving my order! After such bother to try to use this cursed thing I refuse to return fruitless from my endeavors so I paid with my own cash.
It is now, sulking into my hashbrowns and Boston cream do I realize I am now poorer, fatter and fucking miserable. FUCK gift cards.
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Big disagree.
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It is unlawful for a gift card to expire in the US. (Ask Simon Malls how badly they got fucked for this.)
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There are tons of expensive restaurants my partner and I are simply not going to go to unless we’re able to knock $100 of the bill.
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Retired people are on a budget. Gift cards help them with that.
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Often times people have niche hobbies wherein buying a present might have good intentions. but it’ll be in vain. I’m a beer snob. Do not get me beer as a gift, ever. Gladly take a gift card to a good brewery. I’m a musician – don’t buy me gear. I work and tinker with networking. Don’t buy me hardware. Give me gift cards.
They are low effort and high reward. They are excellent gifts, both to give and receive.
It may be unlawful but I have over $100 in useless gift cards because the companies went out of business before I could use them. Cash is inherently superior. Although both cash and gift cards have the problem of being potentially tacky or offensive to give as a gift, depending on the context.
Bankruptcy is the only legitimate loophole.
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For reciprocal holidays like Christmas, giving cash maybe gets a little too close to exposing the pointlessness. I give you cash, then you give me cash, what are we doing here? And what if I gave you less than you gave me?
A gift card does indicate I thought a little bit about what the recipient might like, even if I know it would be impractical for me to make a choice on the recipient’s behalf, or that my gift wouldn’t be sufficient to cover a typical purchase in whole. (Thinking like gaming systems, expensive handbags etc)
All that said, I generally agree, I’m not crazy about gift cards.
You are exactly right about this
For reciprocal holidays like Christmas, giving cash maybe gets a little too close to exposing the pointlessness. I give you cash, then you give me cash, what are we doing here? And what if I gave you less than you gave me?
How does a gift card solve this though?
I give you Starbucks™ cash and you give me Chipotle™ cash. What are we doing here? What if I gave you more Starbucks™ cash then you gave me Chipotle™ cash?
It’s literally just money with brand loyalty.
I think it’s because people think giving pure cash is thoughtless and basic. If you give a gift card for that persons favorite restaurant, then it feels more personable.
Obviously having cash is better for flexibility but people don’t care sometimes
Think the FTC should get involved on this one. One gift cards should never expire. Two you should have the right to cash it out and every fucking penny off of that card. Third and last no fucking fees that eat away at the balance. If they did that then gift cards would be nice beyond that not buying those.
That’s the fancy answer.
My son receives gift cards from his friends for birthdays, and we buy them for other birthdays. I think they suck, but the truth is, we usually have no idea what to buy and this is socially acceptable to give.
For me, I use gift cards I receive as a test of the person that gave it. Someone I consider a collegue but not friend giving me a gift card to a place I like instantly makes me think they value me more than I thought. Person I consider a friend gives me a gift card instead of a gift, depending on the occasion, makes me think they like me, but can’t be bothered to put too much effort in, or are just doing because they feel obligated.
It’s the middle thing between not gifting something specific but also no just giving money. Sometimes you are not sure what exactly a person wants, but giving money directly might feel too unpersonal? Other than that, i completely agree with you that it sucks. Stores must love them though, they already have the money without having to provide a service / product and then many people will forget, the gift cards expire etc. I’m of the opinion that the cards shouldn’t expire, or at least have a very high expiration date (like minimum 10 years).
Just give money. Its bizarre and sick that you feel the need to have your gift blessed by a corporation. As if the 3 minutes spent buying the things to have some fraction taken by your corporate overlord somehow means you tried anymore than giving a stack of money.
It’s the middle thing between not gifting something specific but also no just giving money.
It’s literally just branded money.
I agree, but I’ve gotten less annoyed by it over the years. When I was young it really didn’t make sense to me. Money can do literally the same and is way more versatile.
However, now that I’m trying to survive this adulting thing it does start to make more sense, even if I still don’t like it. If someone gives me money, it ends up on the big pile of money that’s constantly flowing around. Give me 20 euros and it just adds 20 to the number in my bank account, which will eventually end up being used on groceries, bills, mortgage, etc. if you give someone money as a present you don’t want this. You don’t know what to give the other person ans you want them to choose something nice for themselves. But buying them part of their groceries or a part of their bills isn’t exactly a fun gift. You want to “force” them to buy something nice, something that they want to spend money on instead of need to spend money on. A gift card does this.
Then again, giving me physical money would also do this. Or asking me to say when I bought something nice with it. When people gift me money I tend to tell them where it went and that works way better than gift cards imo.
I give giftcards to the bookstore to my niece and nephew because if I gave them straight cash they’d blow it on trinkets and junk they’d forget about in minutes.
This is fair. Restricted cash for people who should have restricted cash. Or something to incentivise good habits.
Yep, that’s the right train of thought.
I used to also dislike them, due to their limitations vs cash. But eventually realized that I liked having the excuse to go out of town to a fancy restaurant, or splurge on games I might otherwise decide I don’t need right now.
Strictly speaking, cash is better, yes. But gift cards can influence people to do things that might make them happier than typical rational or habitual decisions.
Gift cards are great for the company they’re tied to because they basically just made a sale of that amount and now it’s up to the receiver to take the initiative to actually get anything from the company. Plus with inflation the value of the card always decreases. Plus you’ll usually end up buying a little more than the amount on the gift card just to use it all up.
I think cash is usually a better gift, with one exception: a gift card can be a way to give someone permission to get something from a store that they would really like but usually not actually spend their own money there.
For me, I buy gift cards at a discount when I know I’m going to buy at a given store anyways. Might as well get $20 off of whatever.
It’s not just a sale. Gift card money is invested and the company makes returns off of it, and all they have to do is provide you the base value of the gift card in coffee or whatever at some later date. Plus, if your purchases don’t add to a whole number, millions of gift cards with like 30 cents left over in each of them is a ton of free money for the company. Gift cards are a huge scam
Gift card money is invested same as sales, it rings up the same. This stuff gets sloshed together in the overall balance sheet. It amounts to probabilistic overpaying, where one person might spend their whole card immediately (no overpaying), another takes their time using it (overpaid at the rate of inflation), and another forgets about it, loses it, or just never spends all of it (overpayment by the amount left on the card).
You could also think of it as zero-interest debt issued by the purchaser to the store, payable in future purchase credits with the onus on the lender of the debt to collect later. As you note, the store can invest the money immediately so it is guaranteed profit.
I can think of a couple of uses from the top off my head.
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For parents. This is a way to control what kind of products your children could get, giving them a limited sense of control.
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There are people that are not very generous when it comes to giving away something. Like those who won’t give money to beggars because they believe beggars will spend it in drugs. But in this situation they think they keep some control on the money they give away.
In both cases, if the person is smart enough, they will find out how to make cash from the gift card anyway. However, they’d be really gifted salespersons if they can get the whole value back.
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I like gift cards. A lot of the stuff I want to buy I know what I want but family would not. So they buy a gift cards to the place I want to buy stuff, I buy the correct stuff, and show off what I got. So they give me like Penzeys gift cards, and I get the cinnamon I need! Or other spices.
But what about the alternative? Cash? You can buy anything you want with that, even pay rent!
Then I’d use it for boring things only, which would make the gift givers annoyed as those aren’t a gift. If they wanted to help me with that stuff, they do pay cash. Which is why they give gift cards, so I’ll treat myself.
As an alternative to using a credit card online is a good idea, as good an idea as any for security and anti-tracking if nothing else. But only if you remember to use them.
One other thing is, (and I’m not positive this is true), but people on disability can’t have over a certain amount of cash. Giving a gift card makes sense in that instance because it no longer counts as cash at that point.
It comes down to discomfort in giving people cash gifts. Agree that it’s stupid.
I will go a step further and say that in most cases, gift giving just destroys value. Exception for little kids, who derive a modicum of enjoyment from whatever plastic crap you give them.
Depending on where you live, gift cards legally can’t expire. They only become worthless if the company goes out of business.
The rest of what you said I agree with
I’ve heard that too, but employees can’t override rejection of expired cards, so to use your rightfully owned cash, you have to fight with the company via online customer service and maybe even threaten to sue.
Because of that, even in countries and states where cards don’t expire, they essentially do.
Can’t argue with any of that
I need them to pay the IRS so they won’t arrest me for a mistake on my taxes.
Volunteering?
There’s a good chance got them because dunkin donated them or because the cafe didn’t want to give cash for fear it could be construed as pay.
The point of gift cards is that they’re: a. Not money (when using money might have some sort of disadvantage for either side). b. Have restrictions that the person who gave it to you might want to impose. c. Are usually cheaper than paying money directly to the vendor.
And frankly, no one forced you to try and use them. They were given as a gesture of appreciation, and you could have given them to someone who would have been happy to have them, or just politely refuse to accept them. Also, not checking the expiration date is on you.
I don’t know what to get you and prefer something better targeted than cash. Tell me what you want, what you really really want, and you might get that instead
— if you complain again, I’m writing you a check: tell me how inconvenient that is
