More than you want to know about gift cards • Hacker News Board

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#41

Post by throwaway413 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:20 PM UTC

Idea: “unlocked” public bitcoin wallets with autogenerated key pairs that can be given to someone without them needing a pre-existing wallet.

1) transactions are instant and free, ie giving over physical ownership of a pub/private key pair (this could be done via scan of a QR code)

2) no prior onboarding necessary (avoids the repeated question “do you have this wallet/app?”)

Before, if I didn’t have cash, to tip a valet I’d have to ask them “do you have Zelle or Venmo?”, then I’d get their details, then send them money. Here, I could just pull out my wallet, create a new wallet with the specific amount, show them the QR code and say “scan this and it’s yours”.

Basically bitcoin gift cards without the store-specific lock-in.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#42

Post by jldugger » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

airstrike wrote: post #24

Conversely, here's really "All you need to know about gift cards": think about the interest being generated from all that cash sitting idle on some issuer's account while the recipient of your gift card decides how to spend their money. > Most retailers do not have sufficient gift card liabilities and do not have sufficiently sophisticated treasury teams to make a meaningful amount of income off an investment portfol…

> it would be much better for it to be either me or my recipient who benefits

Better for whom?

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#43

Post by sabujp » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #20

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 zelle’d (US instant payment system for participating financial institutions) someone their cash wedding gift, to heck with social convention.

this is the correct way, fast, no transaction fees, no one takes a cut

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#44

Post by junar » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:35 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #16

> employers to offer a gym stipend instead of the equivalent amount of salary Isn't that partly tax benefit and partly the hope that steering employees to better health, results in better employees? E.g., for 20usd I can give them 16usd cash after taxes (or whatever) or 20usd worth of gym membership AND I'd rather my employee exercise than spend money on candy. > A Barnes and Noble gift card to a favorite niece tells…

At least in the US, the gym has to be exclusive to employees and their families to qualify for a tax benefit.

> You can exclude the value of an employee's use of an on-premises gym or other athletic facility you operate from an employee's wages if substantially all use of the facility during the calendar year is by your employees, their spouses, and their dependent children. For this purpose, an employee's dependent child is a child or stepchild who is the employee's dependent or who, if both parents are deceased, hasn't attained the age of 25. The exclusion doesn't apply to any athletic facility if access to the facility is made available to the general public through the sale of memberships, the rental of the facility, or a similar arrangement.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b#en_US_2021_publink1000...

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#45

Post by dwighttk » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:37 PM UTC

> 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?

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#46

Post by mrfusion » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:41 PM UTC

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 wish this were a real thing: https://mobile.twitter.com/TwoClawsMedia/status/121003095448...

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#47

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:42 PM UTC

winternett wrote: post #40

cmckn wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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

[deleted]

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#48

Post by mrfusion » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:44 PM UTC

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.

Could it also be that it would get awkward if two people exchanged cash gifts and they were different amounts.

(Also could get awkward if it was the same amount.)

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#49

Post by jerlam » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

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…

Maybe my extended family is weird, but most gift giving is extremely impersonal these days and only done as a matter of tradition. People are making up wish lists and sending them to others specifically to avoid forcing the other party to invest a lot of effort into a gift that might not be received well.

Gift cards are the worst of both worlds - just as impersonal as cash, but even more limiting.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#50

Post by tfang17 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

If anyone is looking for a gift card provider to send gift cards via email, try out Tremendous! We use and love them. Nice APIs and super simple to integrate.