In defense of gift certificates

[snowflake]

I like cats.  I like to pet them. I like to feel them purr. I like to watch them play.

For most people this translates into: Oh, she must want a ceramic/stuffed/glass/wooden cat!  This might be over-the-top, cheesy, or ugly, but it's a cat so I'll bet she LOOOOOVES it!  Unfortunately one of those people was my mother so I'd feel bad about getting rid of the said cat things.  Also, it's not like I've chosen a lucrative career so while I can pay my rent/mortgage, it has never been for anywhere palatial.  So I don't know where to put anything decorative.

Now I LIKE gift cards.  My mother says, "Oh, I'm sorry.  But I didn't really have time to shop this year.  I didn't pick out something special."  I say, "Oh mom, it really is the thought that counts. I love you!"

[Jocelyn]

Best example is Amazon gift cards. I rarely buy kindle books for myself because I can't justify the cost. 

Are you familiar with Bookbub and Pixel of Ink? Freebie books for the Kindle?

[LadyJaneinMD]

My father is blind and can't shop anymore, so he gets gift cards.  I love them.  In addition, I got other gift cards from other people, so I'm sitting on $100 in gift cards this week.

Do you mean "he gives gift cards"? Otherwise, I don't understand the logic.

Sorry, that would be confusing.  I mean, he gets gift cards to give out to all of us. 

[siamesecat2965]

I like cats.  I like to pet them. I like to feel them purr. I like to watch them play.

For most people this translates into: Oh, she must want a ceramic/stuffed/glass/wooden cat!  This might be over-the-top, cheesy, or ugly, but it's a cat so I'll bet she LOOOOOVES it!  Unfortunately one of those people was my mother so I'd feel bad about getting rid of the said cat things.  Also, it's not like I've chosen a lucrative career so while I can pay my rent/mortgage, it has never been for anywhere palatial.  So I don't know where to put anything decorative.

Now I LIKE gift cards.  My mother says, "Oh, I'm sorry.  But I didn't really have time to shop this year.  I didn't pick out something special."  I say, "Oh mom, it really is the thought that counts. I love you!"

Hahaha - me too! I finally had to tell my mom, thank you, but please NO MORE cat "stuff"

[LadyJaneinMD]

I like cats.  I like to pet them. I like to feel them purr. I like to watch them play.

For most people this translates into: Oh, she must want a ceramic/stuffed/glass/wooden cat!  This might be over-the-top, cheesy, or ugly, but it's a cat so I'll bet she LOOOOOVES it!  Unfortunately one of those people was my mother so I'd feel bad about getting rid of the said cat things.  Also, it's not like I've chosen a lucrative career so while I can pay my rent/mortgage, it has never been for anywhere palatial.  So I don't know where to put anything decorative.

Now I LIKE gift cards.  My mother says, "Oh, I'm sorry.  But I didn't really have time to shop this year.  I didn't pick out something special."  I say, "Oh mom, it really is the thought that counts. I love you!"

Hahaha - me too! I finally had to tell my mom, thank you, but please NO MORE cat "stuff"

I had to tell my whole family, 'Please, no more dust collectors!!  If it's not useful or edible, I have nowhere to put it!'

[siamesecat2965]

I have one $25 Amazon gc, and may be getting another one (I get gifts from my friend's dogs for Christmas, and the last few years, that's been it) if it is, I'm planning on buying a Kindle Fire HD. Several years back, my cousin gave me a very generous Amazon gc, which I used to buy my first Kindle. I will be happy with whatever the puppies give me, but am hoping for Amazon

[mandycorn]

Best example is Amazon gift cards. I rarely buy kindle books for myself because I can't justify the cost. 

Are you familiar with Bookbub and Pixel of Ink? Freebie books for the Kindle?

Thank you! I just got my mom a Kindle for Christmas and have been trying to find as many sites as possible with free books!

[Yvaine]

I really love them for books especially. I love to read, but I'm really hard to book shop for: I read really quickly and so go through a lot of books, and you never know what I've already read; and I get some free review copies in addition to books I buy for myself, so you never know what I already own and am meaning to read. And I've known a few people who think "Yvaine likes to read" means "Yvaine likes anything bound with words printed in it," so I end up with, I don't know, the autobiography of some business tycoon when I want fantasy novels. Gift cards mean I can browse and pick stuff I don't already own, and it helps me splurge--on my own, I hardly ever purchase a hardcover, but with a gift card I'm more likely to really treat myself. And then I can get decadent coffee drinks while I'm there too. 

[stitchygreyanonymouse]

I also absolutely love GCs, particularly when the person puts effort into finding one for a store they know I like. For instance, one friend got me one from the local quilt shop that I didn’t even know had GCs. I also got some for the local big-box craft store (hooray, I’m set on notions and batting for a while). The cash I receive usually ends up being spent on practical things (like covering the boarding costs of our dog over the holidays, this year)

I do understand how they can go wrong though… one year my SO received an airline one from his Aunt, for an airline that doesn’t do flights at any of the relatively close airports to us—I think that was before the new regulations that restrict expiry dates, so it ended up expiring before we found a use for it or a way to trade it. This year was a gas card that would have been perfect for us—except that in 3000 mi of driving over the holidays, we never found one of those branded gas stations, nor are there any near our home. At least we can use it at Easter when we visit them, as there are locations near her house.

Ultimately, they are like any other gift: it can be obvious when there is thought put into it vs. when they just grabbed something that was easy. It’s just that the threshold for thoughtless is a little higher, because something like an Amazon one can be so widely appropriate (unless of course the recipient doesn’t like shopping online).

[Yvaine]

Oh, and I think a good rule for GCs might be that the amount should be enough for the recipient to get a average-ish thing at that store without having to cough up extra money. If it's to a bookstore, you should be able to buy a book. If it's to Starbucks, you should be able to buy a nice coffee drink. If it's a clothing store, you should be able to buy an item of clothing from there. Restaurant? You should be able to have dinner. That doesn't mean the recipient can't apply it to a larger purchase (like, say, putting that $25 Amazon card toward a Kindle Fire instead of buying books with it), but the giver shouldn't just be giving the person something that's useless without a lot of extra money applied. I once got a GC for $10 to a swanky swimwear place where suits cost upwards of $150, as an example. I wouldn't have gone there before the GC and I wasn't going to go there after the GC either--$140 is still out of my price range for a swimsuit.

[siamesecat2965]

Oh, and I think a good rule for GCs might be that the amount should be enough for the recipient to get a average-ish thing at that store without having to cough up extra money....That doesn't mean the recipient can't apply it to a larger purchase (like, say, putting that $25 Amazon card toward a Kindle Fire instead of buying books with it), but the giver shouldn't just be giving the person something that's useless without a lot of extra money applied.

Yes and yes. My gift from my PT job for 5 years of service was a $100 gc to Tiffany. Which may sound like a lot, but really, all you can buy for that is maybe a scarf, and perhaps one glass or serving dish. Certainly not any of their jewelry, even the sterling, which isn't all that pricy.  I did get a nice ring, but still had to pay almost the same amount as the GC for it.

I seem to recall someone I knew who got one for some fancy, gourmet popcorn store, and it wasn't enough to buy anything.

And I JUST, not an hour ago, used 2 $25 Amazon gcs to order my Kindle Fire HD. 

[Yvaine]

Oh, and I think a good rule for GCs might be that the amount should be enough for the recipient to get a average-ish thing at that store without having to cough up extra money....That doesn't mean the recipient can't apply it to a larger purchase (like, say, putting that $25 Amazon card toward a Kindle Fire instead of buying books with it), but the giver shouldn't just be giving the person something that's useless without a lot of extra money applied.

Yes and yes. My gift from my PT job for 5 years of service was a $100 gc to Tiffany. Which may sound like a lot, but really, all you can buy for that is maybe a scarf, and perhaps one glass or serving dish. Certainly not any of their jewelry, even the sterling, which isn't all that pricy.  I did get a nice ring, but still had to pay almost the same amount as the GC for it.

Exactly! And if they were set on a gift of $100, there are places that $100 would go much farther and it would have made them look less cheap for the same amount of money.

[siamesecat2965]

Oh, and I think a good rule for GCs might be that the amount should be enough for the recipient to get a average-ish thing at that store without having to cough up extra money....That doesn't mean the recipient can't apply it to a larger purchase (like, say, putting that $25 Amazon card toward a Kindle Fire instead of buying books with it), but the giver shouldn't just be giving the person something that's useless without a lot of extra money applied.

Yes and yes. My gift from my PT job for 5 years of service was a $100 gc to Tiffany. Which may sound like a lot, but really, all you can buy for that is maybe a scarf, and perhaps one glass or serving dish. Certainly not any of their jewelry, even the sterling, which isn't all that pricy.  I did get a nice ring, but still had to pay almost the same amount as the GC for it.

Exactly! And if they were set on a gift of $100, there are places that $100 would go much farther and it would have made them look less cheap for the same amount of money.

What's funny is prior years they gave the employees a $50 gc to Tiffany, REALLY not enough to buy anything.  I htink they wanted it to be "upscale' but I would have much preferred an am ex gc for the same amount