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.
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.
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.
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
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
This won’t answer your question directly, but I know in some jurisdictions gift cards or prepaid lunch cards are taxed differently than income and that’s why employers often resort to these instead of actual salary raises
They could be purchased en mass at a discount. The corporate gift card as a gift, might only cost 70%, and have a rebate if it’s never used. Depending on your jurisdiction it may not count as income either, reducing HR burden. So it makes financial sense.
They’re often sold at a discount to retail customers, to lock them in, a bet that they won’t actually use it versus utility somebody gets from a discount. Just like mailing coupon/rebates
It is one of the more practical off-ramps for crypto, you can buy gift cards with crypto, then use those gift cards for real world needs.
In the domain of gifts, if somebody has a spending problem, or a dependency problem, and you want to make sure they buy something in a certain vertical, locked in money as a gift card to make sense. If you give a drunk $50, they’re going to buy alcohol. If you give them a $50 gift card to bed bath & beyond, they might actually use it to improve their house
It can also be a form of virtue signaling, a $50 gift card to the air and space museum, or the science museum… Is both a gift of money, but an excuse to go to a new place and do a new thing.
I’m surprised this comment is at the bottom… It’s the correct answer. Companies can offer or donate gift cards to employees (like during a team event). But if they offer cash, that works like a bonus and it’s legally trickier.
I posted early, so i get sorted to the bottom by new. I had too much text so many people won’t read it. If I wanted lots of karma I’d have a one or two sentence pithy zinger.
I tried to be accurate and complete, yet I still got downvoted! haha, that’s lemmy for you.
It comes down to discomfort in giving people cash gifts. Agree that it’s stupid.
I will go a step further and say that in most cases, gift giving just destroys value. Exception for little kids, who derive a modicum of enjoyment from whatever plastic crap you give them.
My dad gave me an Apple gift card of something like 200$ last year.
I don’t buy Apple product. I would have taken the money but eh
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.
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.
[off topic]
A while back I gave my friend $50 for his birthday. I got fifty ‘gold’ dollars at the bank and gave them in a drawstring purse [the kind Robin Hood or Conan the Barbarian would carry]
He really enjoyed it.
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.
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.
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.
- 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
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
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.
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?
Mad? No. Unhappy? Yes. If I don’t want the food I’m not going to eat the food. I don’t want people to waste their money on something I don’t want.
Even if it’s not my money I don’t like unnecessary spending.
Going to the restaurant they recommended is the point of the gift. That’s not a bug.
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!
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.
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.
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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Sometimes people like it when others make choices for them.
Good establishments don’t have their gift cards expire.
Gift cards are great if the recipient often shops at a given store, but the giver isn’t sure what they want.
Let’s say I’ve got a friend who loves board games. I don’t want to get them a board game, because A. They might already have it, or B. Someone else might get them the same one. A gift card to a game store would be the perfect gift for them.
I think the problem in your case was that a Dunkin gift card wasn’t a great gift for you specifically, but the giver was trying, so don’t be too hard on them.
I need them to pay the IRS so they won’t arrest me for a mistake on my taxes.
