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.
You must log in or register to comment.
I need them to pay the IRS do they won’t arrest me for a mistake on my taxes.
Every few years I find a drawer of expired gift cards and throw them out. One time I kept a one hundred pound gift card in my wallet for months on end, keeping it alive with balance checks in the store but never using it. My partner noticed this and said “just give it to me”, and promptly lost it forever in one of her handbags.
Personally, I’m terrible about actually spending money on myself. Mostly because right now money is pretty tight as a single income household. A giftcard forces me to spend money in a more careless manner than I otherwise would. A giftcard encourages me to splurge and order a thing on Amazon or buy a super sugary treat or something else that can bring me joy. If I’m given cash I just use that to smooth over the daily grind, so giftcards absolutely hit different
I was given a dunkin giftcard
Dunkin gift cards expire? That’s news to me, it’s been a while since I’ve encountered expiring gift cards. Not sure that’s even legal but maybe they expire in your particular state?
To answer your main question I buy gift cards with discounts/cash back all the time. It basically makes them cheaper than using cash. For example my credit card has 5% cash back for grocery stores so that gives me 5% cash back on gift cards purchased there.
Also a lot of credit card and stores do gift card sales where they’ll do 10%-20% discount, or throw in a free gift card with a purchase.
Where I live it’s illegal to have them expire. They can:
- Provide a spending limit for a vice
- frees the user of the need to spend it responsibly
- a safer way to spend money online and an alternative to a credit card.
I don’t mind getting a steam gift card or an lcbo (liquor store) card, I know what liquor and games I like more than the people gifting. An Amazon gift card is much more annoying because it’s an everything store, it’s money that has to be used unethically. A costco giftcard is a nice hack to allow you to shop at the store without a membership, I used them like that until I reached a point where the membership paid for itself. I think they have a place, I also think they are often abused and should be regulated more than they currently are where I live. If they have an expiry they are a scam.
The state I live in, they are also illegal to expire. The problem is that companies blatantly break the law with zero consequences.
If you try to use an expired card, it will automatically decline, and an employee physically cannot override it. To use your money you have to go online and submit a complaint/ticket to customer support. Good fucking luck getting a response.
The only way after that is to threaten to sue, or sue. Sueing can cost thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars, which is completely ridiculous and why nobody does it. Thats why even though many states outlaw expiring giftcards, most of them still have expiration dates in blatant violation.
Got it. You need a gift card to a lawyer.
My favorite gift is a Steam Gift Card.
In my opinion, gift cards are good gifts when the giver has some idea of what they want to give, but not enough information to make a proper purchase. For example:
- for an “event” (eg skydiving, a meal at a fancy restaurant, canoeing trip, etc) where the gifter doesn’t know dates when the recipient is free.
- for a specific product which the giver knows fairly little, and the receiver has strong opinions on (eg. Money to spend on PC parts without making any product decisions for them)
- for an item of a “set”, where the gifter doesn’t know for sure which items are already owned (eg. A board game expansion, a collectible Lego set, a book from a series)
However i do think that often gift cards are used as excuses to be lazy.
Just give cash with a note saying “money for the ski trip” or sth.
Big disagree.
-
It is unlawful for a gift card to expire in the US. (Ask Simon Malls how badly they got fucked for this.)
-
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.
-
Retired people are on a budget. Gift cards help them with that.
-
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.
- Cash doesn’t expire either
- You can knock $100 off a bill with cash
- Cash can help retired people
- You can buy stuff for niche hobbys with cash
Gift cards are intentionally earmarked for a specific purpose. If you give me a gift card for a restaurant, I’ll go to that restaurant, and not feel guilty about “this is too expensive”. You’ve given me an experience I won’t choose for myself, but may enjoy. It’s memorable, and the experience is inherently connected to you even if you don’t go with me. I won’t buy myself a massage. But if you encourage me to do so with a gift card to a massage place you enjoy, I will enjoy the experience.
That’s the intent of gift giving. It’s a way to strengthen a relationship by sharing items or experiences you think someone will enjoy. Cash can theoretically do that, but rarely does.
This is exactly it for me. If you give me cash, I will appreciate it but just end up saving it. If you give me a gift card I will use it to buy something I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Plus, you can be more intentional with gift cards. Was your dad talking about how much he’d like a new fishing pole? Getting him a gift card to an outdoors store shows you were paying attention. Maybe your wife really likes manicures but never gets them for herself. A gift card to a spa shows thought.
I feel like at that point you just invite them to dinner/massage/etc. Much better way to bond anyway. Plus if someone is rare to prioritize fun, a bunch of gift cards to random ass places like rpg quests is stressful for those on an already tight schedule.
Having a bunch of gift cards you know you HAVE to use is stressful!
No one gives someone “a bunch” of gift cards - it seems like you’re racing to validate your dislike of them. And I’m going to feel weird if my sister invites me to get a massage with her, though I appreciated it when she gave me a prepaid one years ago.
Here’s another example. My brother barely makes ends meet, but he loves Starbucks. Of I give him $100 cash, is not going to move the needle for his cost of living, but it’s going to go to bills. Of I give him $100 on a Starbucks card, he’s going to treat himself a bunch of times to something he loves but can’t really afford.
The other thing about it is that cash usually gets interpreted as “I put no thought into what to get you,” while a gift card at least says you had something in mind.
You don’t “have to” use them.
Most people consider a gift card as a substantially better gift than equivalent cash for a reason. It’s a shared experience whether they’re there or not.
Gift cards are intentionally earmarked for a specific purpose.
For a specific purpose at a specific vendor. And that’s why I hate gift cards. What if I want to go out to eat at a nice restaurant, but not the one they gave me the gift card for? Now you can’t go to the place you wanted to go to.
Or what if I want to buy something online, and it’s 50% off at vendor A but full price at vendor B and the gift card is for vendor B? Now your stick between paying for the item like normal, or wasting money getting it from the place that takes your gift card.
That’s kinda the point, isn’t it? Do you get mad if someone plans a fancy dinner, but you happen to be craving a burger that day?
Going to the restaurant they recommended is the point of the gift. That’s not a bug.
Cash is sterile and impersonal. It shows minimal effort and interest.
Lol bc gift cards arent…
giving somebody a gift card for a product or service you think they specifically will enjoy is objectively more personal than giving them cash, yes
Just tell them what you think they might want
It’s not the same.
“Here, kid. Here’s 50 bucks to get this toy I think you’d like”
“Why not just get me the toy?”Why did you give me this toy, with you had just given me $50
I feel this is a false equivalency. Toys are easy, and you often know if the other person would like it or not, in which case you get them the toy, and not a gift card. The statment being made here is money vs gift cards, not money vs actual items.
The comparison is off. A better comparison would be:
“Here, kid. Here’s 50 buck to go to this restaurant I think you’d like” “Why not get me a gift card? / Thanks, but I dont like that restaurant. Thankfully I can spent it in others, whereas I wouldn’t be able to with a gift card”.
There’s a certain something to giving people cash versus a gift card.
For one, cash today is almost an inconvenience, a lot of places don’t accept cash.
The other element to it is that gift cards need to be used for specific things, while cash is often seen as something to just toss in a bank account and use for necessities or forget about. If the goal of the gift-giver is for the recipient to treat themselves to something, a gift card helps set some limits. Or if the goal is to get something related to someone’s hobby but you don’t know enough about what to get them, the gift card is an option.
I don’t hate getting cash as a gift, but I am going to be honest that it is not going to get spent on anything nice. It’s going to rent and groceries and whatever is left gets tossed into savings.
I’m not much of a gift card giver, but there have been a few times where I gave Steam gift cards as a gift for friends who are into games but I don’t know exactly what they want.
I have rarely encountered places that don’t accept cash. The only places I’ve seen signs that state no cash are smaller businesses and/or street merchants/vendors.
Regardless, I agree with the spirit of your comment. I rarely use cash anymore simply because carrying it around is inconvenient. You have to know ahead of time exactly how much something is going to cost and then when you get coins back, that’s doubly more inconvenient/annoying.
Ultimately, OP’s post is a little melodramatic. Gift cards are meant to be more personal, although in the specific context they wrote, it does feel a bit half-hearted (“Thanks for helping, here’s a random gift card I found in my wallet that I never used!”).
I wouldn’t say cash is sterile given how many hands etc that have handled it before you
If you give me cash, I’m probably just going to be boring and invest it.
Some people rarely prioritize fun things. Gift cards force them to.
Exactly the point here. Let’s force people to allocate money in a way they don’t want AS A GIFT BECAUSE WE’RE NICE!
Cash is superior in every way
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.
On the expiration thing, that is only for certain types of gift cards. It’s kind of a confusing mess. I know this because I tried to look into it, and I do not recall the answers I found, because they were confusing. My company uses a vendor called Tango for our gift cards, and some of those definitely do expire. The only ones I can think of that I’m almost certain about are the VISA gift cards. I’m not defending it, I think it’s utter tripe, but somehow they do it.
These are all good points but the biggest reason I HATE gift cards is because they offer ZERO protection.
Buy something with a credit card and you often get double warranty protection included. That something gets damaged or stolen? Also protected.
Gift cards offer none of that. Neither does cash but at least I can use cash to pay off the credit card.
I get that a gift card is more personable and it earmarks the funds for a particular store. If you like gift cards, then cheers and go about your merry way.
I’ve emphatically told my loved ones that I never want a gift card. You want me to use the money somewhere specific? Just say so and I’ll do it.
But don’t give me a script that I can only use in one place and might lose.
-
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.
I give you cash, then you give me cash, what are we doing here?
This is why I don’t give people gifts and tell others not to give me gifts. Holidays arent about gifts. If I do get a gift, I give it back to them the next year. Bonus points for giving it back in the exact same gift bag. After a decade of this, people have finally stopped giving me gifts!
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.
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.
My mom used to save gift cards and use them for “special things”, to get something she really wanted but was a splurge for her. When she died, she had probably like $800-900 in gift cards waiting to be spent, and they’d lost like a third of their value. They were part of my mom’s estate, so they went to my sister (the executrix). When my sister died, I found those exact same gift cards, still unspent, only this time they’d lost all their value. Plus she has a bunch of gift cards of her own that she’d been saving that had lost a bunch of value as well.
I know I’m fortunate that I don’t need to scrape money, and that not everyone can afford to do this. But after losing out on a bunch of money, this is what I do: when someone gives me a gift card, I spend it immediately and enthusiastically tell the giver what I got - or, in some cases, supposedly got: occasionally I’ll use the card to buy a gift for someone else, or I’ll just buy gas or groceries. But I use it on something I want or need, even if it’s just in the vaguest way. That avoids losing the value of the money, which I absolutely hate.
But I take the birthday or holiday or thank-you or thinking-of-you card that the gift card came in, and I’ll tuck in the same amount of cash as was on the gift card. I have a little stash of cards in my desk (and my heir knows to check those cards), all with some amount of money in them. And when I’m feeling down, or really need a treat, or just need to remember that I’m loved, I go pull out the cards and read through some of them. And if I’m still feeling bad, I may pull out some money from the card and go buy myself something - an ice cream or a nice dinner or a pair of socks - it doesn’t matter. To me, it’s that person giving me a giant hug on a day that I really need it, whether that person is even still around - to me, that’s an immensely valuable gift, and something that I always treasure.
Also, to keep each gift giving, I usually sneak back a couple weeks later and put the same amount of money back into the envelope: just because I spent that specific money doesn’t mean my mom or grandma loved me any less, and sometimes I need to be reminded of that.
To show they know you, at least a bit. Cash can obviously used by everyone about anywhere, but for that reason it can be given to someone you don’t know at all and they’ll like it.
A gift card shows that the giver at least believes they know the gifted well enough to know where they like to spend money. They just don’t know them well enough to know they would like “this specific thing” and know they don’t already one one.
I got a gift card to a steak restaurant as a thank you for a huge favour. It was the last place I’d go for a meal. I’d rather have had a book token - I could have bought half a dozen books, and instead it was a not very enjoyable meal for two.
Ok
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.
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.
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).
It’s the middle thing between not gifting something specific but also no just giving money.
It’s literally just branded money.
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.
Except a lot of people won’t take just money.
It’s psychological but it’s true.
Except Chinese
Gifting cash is normal for us
