Gift Cards: Nice gift or cop out?

[IndyTom 0]

[IAMWood 6]

 

but really depends on the person, girlfriend = copout, anyone else = great gift.

[GettnHuge 2]

The last 'GF' I gave a gift card too, I was rewarded well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria's Secret, iat

[Let Da Big Dog Eat 42]

Depends to who and for what place. Family members all get real gifts. Others always get cash (better than gift card as can be used anywhere, for anything). I hate focking shopping.

 

If you are going to give a gift card, make sure it's to a place recipient likes to shop.  Like Best Buy for those into electronics, Bed Bath and Beyond for estrogen infested types.

[BiPolarBear 497]

Cash gets absorbed into the family fund. A gift card to a place that matches my interest is all mine...well actually I spent my Sports Authority gift card on my kids, but the choice was there.

[The Moz 72]

Get someone a gift they may or may not like - or give them a gift card and let them pick out what they really like ? - easy answer really.

 

I usually give out Visa/MC gift cards as gifts really easy on me and everyone loves them !

[Me_2006 14]

Depends. Gotta use them well. Valentines day I got my girlfriend a Victoria Secret gift card that was attached to her roses and stuff. Better than wrapping something slutty around the vase. We just took a shopping trip a few weeks later and picked something out together. Lasted a lot longer than the roses. Now, if I had gotten her one to some clothing store, that'd have been a cop out because I didn't know what to buy her. But the Victoria Secret and Starbucks gift cards have always been a good addition to every gift I've gotten her because those are places I can't give her the actual product from the store as a present for one reason or another.

[mjj 0]

Both.

[phillybear 366]

I usually refuse to give out gifts. But if I am forced to, there nothing as thoughtful as a gift card or cash. Nothing. Anything else sucks. I have never received a gift that wasn't pure crap. This is an indication that the person who gave you a crappy gift thinks as highly of you as a steaming pile of hippo vomit. Now, a gift card and/or cash shows that they are generous, yet allow you to express your individuality in getting something that you absolutely would be pleased with.

 

Girt cards/cash = brilliant

 

Buying a gift = stupid person stuck in the 1800's and not willing to join the modern world.

[heavy-set 39]

if you live near the people, its a cop out,

 

but for out of town realtives, its so much easier. plus, i dont know what they alrady have, so why buy them something they just have to return or exchange?

[TommyGavin 790]

only thing better is cash

[patweisers44 876]

I have never received a gift that wasn't pure crap.

[mighty_thor 115]

I used to buy my wife gifts and i still do as long as it does not involve jewelry or clothing (or accesories like purses). I never know exactly what she wants and she has particular tastes. She likes getting the gift cards to clothing stores so for me its an easy option. I do prefer giving a real gift but this is an easy fall back option.

[NorthernVike 2,113]

Its a focking copout. I cant stand the dambed things If you dont know what I want buy me a 12-pack of good beer

[nospk 230]

There is one small downside to gift cards. For some

reason I'm always afraid they will get lost and end

up being a waste of my effort & money.

Also, I worry that the person I've given them to will put it aside & forget to

use it. I have forgotten about using them myself.

[NorthernVike 2,113]

There is one small downside to gift cards. For some

reason I'm always afraid they will get lost and end

up being a waste of my effort & money.

Also, I worry that the person I've given them to will put it aside & forget to

use it. I have forgotten about using them myself.

 

 

 

The gains are the result of a painstaking process by retailers to document the portion of gift cards that go unspent every year. More than 10 percent of the $58.3 billion in gift cards bought this year won't be used, according to Needham, Mass.-based consulting-firm TowerGroup. Best Buy, the nation's largest electronics retailer, said it spent more than a year reviewing its accounts before booking the revenue.

 

 

Linky

 

 

 

The article is over a year old buy you get the picture. $5.8 Billion wasted

 

 

 

Buy me a damm beer

[Quickolas1 80]

as opposed to a physical object that the person has to pretend to like, and then is either thrown out or sits and clutters someone's house/closet/basement/garage/etc. ?

[akaoni 0]

Linky

The article is over a year old buy you get the picture. $5.8 Billion wasted

Buy me a damm beer

 

 

this is exactly the reason not to give gift cards. they lock the recipient into shopping at one store, and can expire. If you're thinking about giving a gift card, just give cash. It's more thoughtful, allowing the recipient to spend the $$$ whereever and whenever they want.

 

Don't be a sucker and get scammed by the big corporations' something-for-nothing scheme, give your loved ones cash so they can buy what they want.