Gift cards: love 'em or hate 'em?

[RunningBum]

I don't get the whole concept.

I hand you a $100 bill/gift card and you hand me a $100 bill/gift card and we both say "Merry Christmas" and we've somehow accomplished something?

The idea is that you'll use it for something special for yourself that you wouldn't have spent your own money on.

Say I'm a tightwad who won't buy anything for myself. I gave you $100 because you're a friend and I want you to do whatever you want with it. You gave me $100 with the same understanding. Since this isn't $100 of my own money, I splurge on something exotic, and enjoy it guilt-free.

That's the idea.

 

[RetireeRobert]

I don't get the whole concept.

I hand you a $100 bill/gift card and you hand me a $100 bill/gift card and we both say "Merry Christmas" and we've somehow accomplished something?

And more of the idea is there is an *intentional* thinking of the other person, an intentional *caring* enough for the other person to make an effort to give a gift to them.

A "stop the world, forget everything else" moment when, by the simple exchange of gifts, you and the other person tell each other you care for them and they mean something to you.

That is what is accomplished.

Or you could each ignore the other, and each keep your own $100. You are both the losers that way. (Not to mention, you probably wouldn't feel the "sense of freedom" to get something special, do something nice, for yourself with that $100, as you feel when someone who cares about you gifts it to you).

 

[Rustward]

Quite some time ago, SIL's computer wouldn't stay connected to the net. Don't remember if it was a new ISP or a new computer. I spent 2 or 3 hours over there looking at it while DW and her chatted. Did not accomplish the mission that night, but came home armed with exact model numbers of the computer, network interface, and modem. The next day I did some research, sent her some settings to change and that fixed it. In appreciation she sent me a $50 Amex debit card to use -- what the industry calls a "stored value" card. Very nice! Unfortunately it sat until a couple of days ago. I called in for the remaining balance and the agent told me its residual value was $5.95! When DW tried to squeeze what we thought was the the remaining $5.95 out of it yesterday it was rejected.

Well, it is my own fault. Lesson learned.

 

[Average Joe]

I don't get the whole concept.

I hand you a $100 bill/gift card and you hand me a $100 bill/gift card and we both say "Merry Christmas" and we've somehow accomplished something?

Right on.

 

[Charlotte]

I don't typically give gift cards when exchanging gifts with family and friends.

But I do buy and give them to people I don't know well enough to choose a personal gift for. An example is a thank you to my kids' (volunteer) soccer coach for a great season (usually a restaurant gift card) or to the kids' teachers at Christmas and end-of-school-year (usually starbucks or target).

Charlotte

 

[Walt34]

We've given and received them, but only for a specific person who we know will use it and has an interest in the products that store sells. As someone said, give a Camping World GC to someone who you know has a interest in camping but you don't know what gear they already have or may want. So that indicates some thought went into it.

DW frequently helps out her SIL with child care issues and SIL will often give us a GC for what she knows is a favorite restaurant (Bavarian Inn Shepherstown WV) in appreciation. Those GCs do NOT gather dust!

At a reunion dinner we go to every year there is a drawing for raffle prizes, and someone had given a GC for a grocery store - not a bad idea I think since everyone buys food. We bought few nice steaks with it. Many bring bottles of wine, which is a white elephant to someone who doesn't partake of the nectar of the Gods.

 

[Midpack]

I don't get the whole concept.

I hand you a $100 bill/gift card and you hand me a $100 bill/gift card and we both say "Merry Christmas" and we've somehow accomplished something?

Ditto here...what's the point? You either take the time to give something the other person wants, or nothing at all. What ever happened to 'it's the thought that counts' (which obviously excludes gift cards)?

 

[omni550]

Where gift cards are a prized commodity

I've participated in a number of "Secret Santa" gift exchanges.

Rules vary a bit, but typically everyone brings a wrapped gift of a certain value, say $20 or less. Participants draw numbers from a hat and choose gifts in that order. Typically, a person (with any number greater than 1) can either pick an unwrapped gift from the pile or 'steal' an unwrapped gift from a person who had a lower number. The person whose gift was stolen, then gets to either choose another unwrapped gift or steal from someone else. There's usually a limit to the number of times any one gift can be stolen.

In these situations, I've been amazed at how often the gift cards become the 'hot' gift. I've seen it happen for all types of gift cards (Starbucks, Best Buy, Home Depot, Borders) at a variety of different price points ($10 to $75).

omni