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Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

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Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#41

Post by johnny22 »

btrettel wrote: post #8
avmich wrote: post #7

Can't we have this site serving straight HTML with links? Why we should always have JS involved for even most simple tasks?

I've asked someone who likes using tons of JavaScript before and the response I received was along the lines of "It saves developer time." I don't get that one because in my experience, writing straight HTML is simpler than writing JavaScript. The real problem seems to be that many people today seem to have learned frontend web development through fancy JavaScript frameworks and don't know any other way. Since learni…

i don't know if i would have made the same choices they made, but I've been developing websites since 2000 (so before one relied on JS for anything but sugar) and I prefer to work with the component model of things like webcomponents, react, etc than I do with plain HTML.

So it's not just about "i don't know how". I just think it fits my mental model better.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#43

Post by cakeface »

There is also https://rallyforrestaurants.com/

Great to see people coming up with creative ways to support the restaurant community. These efforts should be critical to keep the business running and take out and delivery will keep back of house employees working. I'm still really concerned about front of house employees. What can be done for servers, bartenders, hosts?

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#44

Post by sokoloff »

mihaaly wrote: post #40
Scoundreller wrote: post #19

My real worry is that if the restaurant goes under (or sometimes, even changes ownership), your gift card is worthless. Dunno if a chargeback would go through, since you technically received what you paid for.

It is a bad idea anyway. The revenue will be missing anyway, if not now then later when they are trying to re-bounce but most of their guest come to eat for 'free' (well, already paid, but not for the food). If one genuinely interested in saving a restaurant should invest or better, donate.

Many of those later meals will have a ticket higher than the gift card, so will still generate some cashflow.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#45

Post by cakeface »

danieltillett wrote: post #25

I like the thought of this idea, but it won’t work. If the business spends the money from the cards now then it will be on the hook for the meals later. It is basically just an interest-free loan to the business that will have to be paid back. The party that is really being bailed out here is the landlord. A better approach would be to let the restaurant go under and have some way to pledge that you will support the…

Interest free microloans might be exactly what is needed to keep these businesses viable. The ability to spread out the impact over a year could be critical. This might not be enough, but it's good. Better is better.

There are a variety of reasons why letting the restaurant go under is really inefficient for everyone. The overhead of shutting down one business and starting another adds up to waste.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#46

Post by TeMPOraL »

freepor wrote: post #27

Please donate your discretionary income to food banks and other charities, not business owners.

Actually, small business owners absolutely do need money right now. You want them to have the money, too, if you want to have an economy to return to after the pandemic subsides.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#47

Post by danieltillett »

cakeface wrote: post #45
danieltillett wrote: post #25

I like the thought of this idea, but it won’t work. If the business spends the money from the cards now then it will be on the hook for the meals later. It is basically just an interest-free loan to the business that will have to be paid back. The party that is really being bailed out here is the landlord. A better approach would be to let the restaurant go under and have some way to pledge that you will support the…

Interest free microloans might be exactly what is needed to keep these businesses viable. The ability to spread out the impact over a year could be critical. This might not be enough, but it's good. Better is better. There are a variety of reasons why letting the restaurant go under is really inefficient for everyone. The overhead of shutting down one business and starting another adds up to waste.

It all depends on how long the shutdown goes for. If it is a couple of weeks then yes a micro loan makes sense, but if this is something that goes on for many months then not so much.

My guess is these business are just going to sit there empty and the cost of restarting should be low. If the restauranters have the money (provided by their loyal customers) they will probably go straight back into the same location where they were.

The other factor to consider is even once the restrictions are lifted it is likely that we will be in a deep recession/depression. I can’t see there being huge demand for eating out when everyone is broke.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#48

Post by chii »

smt88 wrote: post #22
Scoundreller wrote: post #19

My real worry is that if the restaurant goes under (or sometimes, even changes ownership), your gift card is worthless. Dunno if a chargeback would go through, since you technically received what you paid for.

Yeah, these gift cards are essentially free loans given to borrowers with extremely poor credit. I’m still going to do it, but I’m considering it to be a donation to my local restaurant scene.

it sucks - but i think a better option is to use a charity to do this rather than give 'em cash. You lose taxes twice - once from your own end, and once from the restaurant's end.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#49

Post by amelius »

dehrmann wrote: post #29
danieltillett wrote: post #25

I like the thought of this idea, but it won’t work. If the business spends the money from the cards now then it will be on the hook for the meals later. It is basically just an interest-free loan to the business that will have to be paid back. The party that is really being bailed out here is the landlord. A better approach would be to let the restaurant go under and have some way to pledge that you will support the…

We're better off having the government backstop this--pay the rent, pay unemployment to the employees, and have society pay at the end of the day. The tricky part is getting money where it's needed. The Fed is doing what it can, but that's basically keeping banks open.

This. It's way too complicated to let society sort this thing out by themselves. For one, because only the "visible" companies like restaurants will benefit, and e.g. companies in the supply chain will be easily forgotten.

Re: Show HN: A directory of restaurants with links to buy gift cards to support them

#50

Post by smt88 »

chii wrote: post #48
smt88 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, these gift cards are essentially free loans given to borrowers with extremely poor credit. I’m still going to do it, but I’m considering it to be a donation to my local restaurant scene.

it sucks - but i think a better option is to use a charity to do this rather than give 'em cash. You lose taxes twice - once from your own end, and once from the restaurant's end.

I don't think you can "donate" to a for-profit private business without paying taxes...
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