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More than you want to know about gift cards

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Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#151

Post by AussieWog93 »

Symbiote wrote: post #144
AussieWog93 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a Western thing? I know they do it in South Africa (along with a "13th month" of pay), and I'm assuming the US too. Outside of those two, I don't really know of any other Western cultures where tipping is much of a thing at all - let alone big tips at the end of the year.

In Britain some people (used to?) give small tips to the paper boy, postman, milkman and dustmen at Christmas. Maybe nowadays this is the Amazon and Deliveroo zero-hours-contract drivers. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2524513/En...

Interesting, thanks for that. Maybe Aussies are the odd ones out in this regard...

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#152

Post by dwighttk »

gifnamething wrote: post #108
dwighttk wrote: post #45

> it’s very tempting for a payments geek to wax laconic about… That’s a novel use of laconic to me. Maybe he meant lyrical?

Sounds OK to me. I could imagine 'gift cards are just interfaces', which is laconic, among other adjectives.

If so it is a novel use of “wax” for me.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#153

Post by selfhoster11 »

flh wrote: post #127
makecheck wrote: post #124

Gift cards are the ultimate anti-consumer scam: - If you buy a gift card that isn’t worth enough for what you actually buy, the store “wins” because you will probably make up the difference with cash and they then sell you something you either would not have bought at all, or bought somewhere else. - If you buy a gift card that is worth more than whatever you end up buying, the store “wins” again because they have re…

I mostly agree with you, but I don't think most people are buying gift cards for themselves. Why would they when there are activation fees attached to these products? Generally they're given out as kind of a lazy gift among family and friends during the holidays, or somtimes from businesses to their employees. As long as the card is for something mildly useful like Starbucks (Although according to the post this seems…

I only ever saw activation fees for cards that correspond to prepaid credit cards. Gift cards for everything else cost exactly what the face value is.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#154

Post by selfhoster11 »

serverlessmom wrote: post #136
makecheck wrote: post #124

Gift cards are the ultimate anti-consumer scam: - If you buy a gift card that isn’t worth enough for what you actually buy, the store “wins” because you will probably make up the difference with cash and they then sell you something you either would not have bought at all, or bought somewhere else. - If you buy a gift card that is worth more than whatever you end up buying, the store “wins” again because they have re…

So I admittedly don't tend to think of consumerism as a game that a consumer can win, but I just wanted to add one more route here. What if you buy a gift card on special deal that gives you an additional percentage of funds for you to spend? Such as... Buy $100 get an additional $20. Assuming this is a place that you regularly want to shop? Then you are effectively getting $20 off a purchase you were going to make a…

Perkbox in the UK does this. You can buy gift cards for less than their face value as an employee perk if your company subscribes to the service.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#155

Post by denton-scratch »

cmckn wrote: post #31
winternett wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why it faux-pas to just put cash in a nice card... I just do it anyway. It's a more universal gift card without fees and expiration dates... Anyone who tries to put me down for doing so will simply not be receiving a gift from me next year... Screw stressful stores. plastic cards, and standing in line, my method is much more "green"... :P

I don’t think it is, at least not in my family. Cash is no more of a faux pas than a gift card, at least. I happen to think either is a pretty lame gift. Instead of a gift card to LUSH, for example, just buy me a bath bomb or whatever. Maybe I won’t like the scent you choose, maybe I’ll love it—that’s the nature of receiving a gift. Besides, gift cards are rarely enough to cover an actual purchase with taxes and etc…

> you shouldn’t be giving them a gift

I hate buying birthday and christmas gifts, and I don't expect to receive them either. I don't have space in my small flat for stuff that doesn't earn the space it occupies, and I assume my relatives don't either.

My policy is to buy presents for people when I find something that I think they'd want. I usually check with them first, so that I'm getting the correct style or model. This process isn't synchronised with any anniversaries, except that if it's near an anniversary, a date-adjustment might occur. For an occasion for which some kind of gift would be expected (e.g. 21st, birth, retirement), if I don't find the right thing, they get cash.

I prefer not to give cash ("it's the thought that counts", and giving cash doesn't involve a lot of thought), and in practice I only give cash to my grown-up kids, who understand how I operate. The hardest target is small kids, who enjoy unwrapping things and enjoying them immediately. I've given cash to my toddler granddaughters too, though (via the investment fund their parents operate); but not on their birthdays.

My late father didn't want people to give him "hard" gifts - stuff that he had to keep somewhere, or worse: put on display to prove he appreciated it. He preferred gifts of food, or other stuff that could be consumed fairly quickly. I'm the same, and I treat others as I would like to be treated myself. I have enough stuff (but I'm running low on caviar).

I think a random, well-targeted, gift on a non-anniversary, coming out of blue sky, is much more exciting than yet another plastic birthday present, arriving on the same day as all the other anniversary presents, that will last a couple of weeks before going to landfill.

I often forget my own birthday. I'm fine with a Happy Birthday phone-call - or none. If someone needs an anniversary gift, for whatever reason, I visit a few card shops, and choose a really snazzy, expensive one. Some of my rels are still displaying fancy commercial cards I sent them ten years ago; I'm still displaying a hand-made card drawn by my 2-year-old granddaughter.

My christmas-card list is zero lines long.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#156

Post by denton-scratch »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #150
svachalek wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not great at gifts but the thing I've learned is, consumables. Chocolate, wine, your bath bomb, fancy cookies, etc. They're fairly universal, won't run into the "already have it" problem, and don't leave the recipient feeling like they now need to hold onto something forever or risk offending you. You may not score a direct hit but generally if you know people at all you can't go too far wrong.

I used to make people cookies and sometimes candy. I'd try to have at least 4-5 varieties, individually wrapped at home, with rules: No nuts, no candy outside of chocolate chips, and most of the doughs would freeze well. I'd often include one new-to-me cookie, chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, brownies, and a colorful-but-plain sugar cookie. They aren't fancy or anything, but they scale up well and folks will look for…

I've made a bunch of fancy chocolate truffles more than once. The basic truffle can be rolled in all kinds of nuts and shit, so you get an assortment; the greatest expense is the packaging (pretty boxes, nice little paper shells to put them in).

Even if the recipient doesn't care for truffles (vegan, weight-loss dieter) they like the packaging, and they have something to share. And truffles are easy to make.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#157

Post by denton-scratch »

smokey_the_bear wrote: post #55
winternett wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pro Tip: Cracker Barrel Country stores are great... They have tons of low-cost and quite universally likeable throw-away nick-nacks that you can pick up and keep in a closet of your house until an awkward "I don't know what to get this person" situation comes up. :P

I don’t like getting Knickknacks, but my favorite kitchen accessories make good gifts for many people. Instant read thermometers, silicone oven mits, etc

Err, no!

I have rather a small kitchen, and I like cooking. In the same way that a carpenter prefers to choose his own tools, I prefer to choose my own kitchen implements. I'd prefer to receive consumable ingredients that can last a year or two on the shelf (no, not stem ginger in brandy, thanks all the same).

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#158

Post by denton-scratch »

lmkg wrote: post #34
winternett wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why it faux-pas to just put cash in a nice card... I just do it anyway. It's a more universal gift card without fees and expiration dates... Anyone who tries to put me down for doing so will simply not be receiving a gift from me next year... Screw stressful stores. plastic cards, and standing in line, my method is much more "green"... :P

I mean, it's all cultural. But the idea is that a gift is personal , and that cash is impersonal . The universality is exactly what makes it impersonal. The ideal gift (again, in US cultural context) is one that reflects something unique about the giver, or recipient, or the relationship between them. An exchange of cash is something that happens between strangers on a regular basis.

> something unique about the giver

Yass. If I'm giving a gift, as often as not it expresses me, rather than the giftee. E.g. I don't know what the giftee likes to read; so I buy them a book that I'd like to be given. Even if they don't like the book, they have the opportunity to know me better. Signed editions are cool, because they may have resale value.

And it's absolutely OK to ebay my gifts; once it's given, it's not mine any more, and it's yours to dispose of as you see fit. I'd prefer if you kept it and used it, of course; but gifting is intrisically haphazard. For me, it's essential that you completely let go of what you've given.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#159

Post by denton-scratch »

Symbiote wrote: post #51
lmkg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's all cultural. But the idea is that a gift is personal , and that cash is impersonal . The universality is exactly what makes it impersonal. The ideal gift (again, in US cultural context) is one that reflects something unique about the giver, or recipient, or the relationship between them. An exchange of cash is something that happens between strangers on a regular basis.

This is generally solved with a note alongside the cash. "Please treat yourself to a meal at my favourite restaurant, X." "I think you can buy some plants for the garden."

Don't agree.

If you do something like that, you are making your gift conditional.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#160

Post by denton-scratch »

Ntrails wrote: post #60
lmkg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's all cultural. But the idea is that a gift is personal , and that cash is impersonal . The universality is exactly what makes it impersonal. The ideal gift (again, in US cultural context) is one that reflects something unique about the giver, or recipient, or the relationship between them. An exchange of cash is something that happens between strangers on a regular basis.

Lets be clear, a gift card is just as shitty a gift - it just manages to be a mite less crass

Yup.

I've never purchased a gift card. I've received them (for participating in a COVID survey actually - but I'd have participated for nothing), and I gave them to people. If they'd given me cash, I'd probably have kept it.

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