[HN Gopher] More than you want to know about gift cards
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More than you want to know about gift cards
Author : smitop
Score : 113 points
Date : 2021-12-13 18:04 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (bam.kalzumeus.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (bam.kalzumeus.com)
| pezzana wrote:
| > Personal financial columnists and comedians do not understand
| the jobs that gift cards do. They are not cash-but-worse-in-
| every-way. Closed loop cards allow a giver to personalize a gift
| to the recipient. A Barnes and Noble gift card to a favorite
| niece tells that niece that you remember she is a reader, unlike
| those uncreative family members who would just give her cash.
|
| The article doesn't actually explain the job being done by gift
| cards. The job is the one the giver is expected to perform: the
| ritual of gift giving. The gift card is hired by the giver for
| that job. But how did the giver get this job?
|
| Far more interesting than the mechanics of gift card management
| would be an exploration of this ritual. Where does it come from,
| and why has it morphed into the economically-essential activity
| that the former religious holiday of Christmas has become? Are
| gift cards the last stop before the holiday returns to its roots,
| or will the next phase become even less recognizable?
| oneoff786 wrote:
| Gift giving on Christmas is derived from the wise men bringing
| gifts to the birth of jesus, and likely to earlier pagan
| rituals that predate Christmas. It is extremely unlikely that
| Christmas reverts to a banal religious thing. People like
| Christmas. Some countries, like Japan, have culturally
| assimilated it, without any of the religious tie ins.
| spekcular wrote:
| The job being done by gift cards is transferring money to your
| relatives with some protection against them spending it on
| drugs.
|
| (Source: a relative who used to give me gift cards.)
| brewdad wrote:
| Given all the gift card scams on the internet, I would think
| it would be pretty straightforward to convert a gift card
| into drugs but at a net loss in value.
| r00fus wrote:
| I bet you more money is exchanged on Lunar New Year Day than
| Christmas. It is significant beyond cultures to have a day of
| gift giving.
| mc32 wrote:
| The one advantage of cash and cash equivalents (open loop) over
| closed loop is that the recipient can decide what they want to
| spend their money on. Maybe I have enough books for now but do
| need a pair of shoes.
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| Or maybe your niece is boycotting B&N for some reason, or
| knows a much better, cheaper bookstore to shop at.
| handrous wrote:
| One thing that drives me nuts, when I give in and produce a
| list of stuff I'd kinda sorta like for the various
| relatives requesting such and, inevitably, most of it's
| just books, is that _no one_ will buy them used. I tell
| them to, over and over, but they won 't do it. I'd rather
| receive the same number of books and know they spent less
| on them. Or 3x as many books for the same money. But no.
| They just won't do it.
|
| Then again, I think toys should be removed from their store
| packaging before being wrapped, but I always lose that
| struggle, too. People seem really stuck on only giving
| visibly-new things. I suspect there's some Fussellian
| class-analysis to be done on that behavior.
| queuebert wrote:
| The next step would be buying religious benefits directly. I
| don't know, say, "indulgences", that one could purchase
| directly from a church. Cut out the middle men.
|
| /s
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| > _Closed loop cards allow a giver to personalize a gift to the
| recipient._
|
| So does a quick note written inside a card with some cash in
| it.
|
| A gift card is only better than cash when the giver can't or
| doesn't want to take the time to personalize a gift.
| snarf21 wrote:
| Gift cards are about signaling. People are very brand loyal.
| Cash isn't brand loyal despite its flexibility. Cash and a card
| to say "buy books" _feels_ less personal than a B &N card for
| some reason. There is the other part where the gift card is
| reserved money. Cash gets put into a pocket and spent on gas. A
| gift card is reserved and people feel anticipation of what they
| could go buy on their next trip. There is also the open moment
| when people feel like "Target gift card, I love Target!!!"
|
| Also, do you mean the religious holiday that the church moved
| to the winter solstice because they couldn't get people to stop
| celebrating the solstice? Also, in the bible story of Christ,
| gift giving is the primary plot. A gift from God to save the
| sinners. You also have the Magi who travel far to bring gifts
| for Jesus. Gift giving is different than all-consuming
| commercialism and that has a bigger cause in our advertising
| controlled economy.
| adrianmonk wrote:
| > _reserved money_
|
| Right, which can make it function a "real" gift because one
| type of gift is the thing that the recipient wouldn't splurge
| on for themselves.
|
| Maybe they'd enjoy a meal at a fancy restaurant but they're
| also frugal and wouldn't actually go. A gift card to the
| fancy restaurant means they'll probably go there and treat
| themselves courtesy of you.
| Symbiote wrote:
| > A gift card is reserved and people feel anticipation of
| what they could go buy on their next trip.
|
| Growing up in England, my aunt occasionally managed this with
| cash.
|
| She would give me _Scottish_ banknotes at Christmas, which
| look different, but can be spent without much difficulty
| almost anywhere in Britain.
|
| (The aunt lives in England, so acquiring the Scottish
| banknotes probably took some effort.)
| madcaptenor wrote:
| The US equivalent of this, I think, would be giving two-
| dollar bills. They exist and are legal tender but are
| rarely seen.
| sumtechguy wrote:
| Some of my family has reverted to just Christmas greeting
| cards. We were basically exchanging some amount of equal value
| cards. We decided to just skip that and get together and have a
| bit of food and company. For other parts of my family getting
| together and opening presents is part of the get together and
| has been a tradition in our family for 50+ years. We open our
| presents and then have a huge paper wad fight. It is kind of
| fun and trying to tailor the present to the person can be fun.
| But yeah if you are down to just exchanging gift cards. Just
| skip that part.
| airstrike wrote:
| 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 portfolio._
|
| This assumes that the retailer is the one holding the cash and
| not the issuer of the card. I'm by no means an expert in the
| industry but IIRC there's a whole lot more that goes into this
| than the author implies.
|
| _> Also, they have a much better option. Unlike insurers, who
| must maintain reserves by regulation, most businesses issuing
| closed loop gift cards are not required to maintain reserves.
| They can simply use the cash as a source of working capital for
| the business, similar to other sources of working capital, except
| substantially free. Even in a capital-drenched economy, it is
| tough to beat free._
|
| Agreed, except it would be much better for it to be either me or
| my recipient who benefits from said "free money".
| jldugger wrote:
| > it would be much better for it to be either me or my
| recipient who benefits
|
| Better for whom?
| airstrike wrote:
| Better for me or my recipient...?
| jldugger wrote:
| So only two of the three interested parties then ;)
| brewdad wrote:
| My brother gifts us AmEx gift cards every year. I think he gets
| them at a discount so it does allow his gifting budget to go
| further but they are a pain in a-- to use. Unlike a store gift
| card, they are almost impossible to stack with other payment
| methods (at least online). Additionally, the test charges a
| store does to ensure the card is valid places a hold on some of
| the funds of the card (typically a dollar) making it virtually
| impossible to use all of the funds on the card. Typically, I
| end up adding them to my Amazon payment methods and buying an
| Amazon gift balance to myself and toss the remaining $1 of
| value in the trash.
|
| I also end up "buying" the gift cards from my wife and son
| since I'm the only one with the patience to deal with them, so
| at least we get most of the value off of them rather than
| letting them expire. It's now 12 days until Xmas and I finally
| spent us down to only $11 left from last year's cards.
| Symbiote wrote:
| Wouldn't it be easiest to use the money for routine spending,
| perhaps somewhere where splitting a bill is normal?
|
| For example, next time you take the family to a restaurant.
| "Could you put $50 on this card please, and the rest on this
| one."
| tiffanyh wrote:
| > " _Open-loop_ gift cards are issued under the aegis of a
| payments network, like Visa or American Express "
|
| It's ironic that Amex is used as an example given that they are a
| closed-loop _network_.
| fragmede wrote:
| I can spend an Amex card at any retailer that takes amex, vs my
| Best Buy gift card is only usable at Best Buy. In what way is
| Amex a closed-loop network?
| tiffanyh wrote:
| When it comes to the _network_ , a closed-loop network refers
| to the fact that the network operator is also the issuing
| bank (e.g. Amex, Discover). Open loop networks, the network
| operator is not the issuing bank (e.g. Visa, Mastercard).
|
| Patio11 is correct in that from a gift card usage
| perspective, Amex is open loop. But I'm just pointing out
| that from a network perspective, they are not.
| dwighttk wrote:
| > 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?
| jrochkind1 wrote:
| indeed, it's kind of an oxymoron!
| throwaway413 wrote:
| 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.
| mattnewton wrote:
| Wouldn't your valet example be even easier with venmo? Or is it
| because the money has a QR code instead of the account - that
| could easily be done with venmo, but isn't, it's true. With
| crypto I worry about the transaction costs dwarfing the utility
| of something like this. Without a central exchange avoiding
| fees for the tiny movement of crypto, you'd lose too much in
| transaction costs when setting up a new wallet to give away.
| But if you have a central exchange running it anyways why not
| just expose this UX over an existing cnetralized payment system
| like venmo?
| throwaway413 wrote:
| With Venmo, I still need to ask for their username. A two way
| transfer of information still has to occur. Same with current
| wallet-to-wallet transactions. Even if we are in the same
| app, I need to know your wallet username or address to send
| you money.
|
| With cash, you can leave a tip in a tip jar, with no "end
| destination wallet" if you will.
|
| This would aim to solve that issue. The key pair would be
| contained in whatever the handoff mechanism is (QR code?) so
| that only a one-way information transfer needs to occur, ie
| giving someone the QR code or handing them a gift card
| representation of it. The funds would be locked up in this
| handoff state until that person were to transfer the funds
| off or claim ownership another way.
|
| As for the fees, I covered this in my other comment, but
| basically there would be no on-chain transaction. The funds
| would never switch wallets.
| mattnewton wrote:
| With venmo you can just scan their account QR code to send
| them money, which is easily accessible in the app. I even
| have a card from them with my qr code printed on it. It
| requires them to have an account, but this seems no more
| onerous than understanding how to spend the new wallet you
| just got the keys to.
|
| When you create the wallet, and put money in it however,
| there have to be fees right? I understand transferring the
| wallet is not going to cost anything because you are just
| sharing a private key, but you still have to fill the
| wallet. And now the recipient also has to move the money
| out of the wallet on the blockchain to use it, paying
| transaction fees. (Worse, they have to do so before you do,
| since you made the wallet you still have the private key!
| This needs another centralized service to prevent you from
| spending money you tipped)
|
| I think the crypto angle is a red herring, what is really
| important to your idea is the QR-code flow that doesn't
| require the recipient to have done any setup. That's a good
| idea.
| throwaway413 wrote:
| > you can just scan their QR code
|
| You still have to ask them if they have Venmo, ask them
| for their QR code, scan it, create the transaction, and
| then send it, and then make sure you sent it to the right
| person.
|
| The loading wallet/unloading wallet concern is definitely
| warranted. I'd imagine that this would have to become a
| new special type of wallet, that the private keys are
| never accessible to the end-user. You could verify funds
| in the wallet per the blockchain as normal etc but the
| administrative account permissions would have to be
| abstracted to a more centralized system of control
| unfortunately.
|
| If you spent the funds directly from these temp/"cash"
| wallets, you wouldn't need to pay fees on the way out
| either, right. Furthermore, if you could pay directly
| with these types of cash wallets, businesses could just
| utilize the direct transfer themselves and never cash
| them out when customers use them to purchase from them.
| mattnewton wrote:
| Right, what you have described requires a central
| authority to 1) manage access to the funds (instead of
| trusting the tipper not to spend the funds he gave the
| tippee), and 2) avoid blockchain overhead by spending
| from accounts directly. Double spending then is prevented
| by trust in the central authority in both cases. The only
| useful part of the crypto currency left is the account-
| less nature of it, which can be done off the blockchain
| (has to be really here per number 2).
|
| It's a UX problem in the payments space, which is not
| really a problem crypto helps with is my point.
| Definitely see the problem, just don't see the crypto
| angle.
| throwaway413 wrote:
| Well said, I agree with that, although I do think there
| is a difference between trusting a central authority to
| maintain an opaque system vs merely being a regulatory
| figure maintaining a transparent system. If that's even
| possible :)
|
| We are currently still trusting places like Coinbase as
| much as we would need to already, to implement this sort
| of system. Why? Because you're right - it's a current UX
| problem of payments, not something crypto inherently
| solves.
| gbaygon wrote:
| check opendime: https://opendime.com
| throwaway413 wrote:
| Bingo! Thanks for sharing
| agentdrtran wrote:
| transactions are very much not free when paying with bitcoin,
| and this has been tried in a few forms already but none have
| been successful. how can they spend what you give them? are you
| going to sit there and explain bitcoin to the waiter?
| throwaway413 wrote:
| Let me clarify. Yes, you have to pay transaction fees when
| transferring money on the blockchain.
|
| I am proposing that no transaction would occur. Just like
| when you hand cash to someone, no external transfer needs to
| take place. You would essentially be giving them full access
| to said wallet, and giving up ownership. No transaction would
| need to be recorded to the blockchain because no actual
| wallet transfer would take place. Only the immediate physical
| ownership of the keys which could happen offline, instantly,
| etc.
|
| The rest of your questions are not answered so easily, and
| agreed, this still doesn't answer the issue of onboarding to
| crypto in general. What it does solve though is the necessary
| onboarding to creating a wallet and understanding how to
| receive bitcoin. No one needs to "understand" how to receive
| cash. You stick your hand out and receive it. Should be just
| as easy as that with bitcoin.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| > 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 that
| niece that you remember she is a reader, unlike those uncreative
| family members who would just give her cash.
|
| My first thought was, as others have mentioned too, "buy a card
| and give cash", but the thoughtful card costs money, so the
| recipient pays through poor convenience for the cost of the paper
| card, instead of the giver spending money on the thoughtful
| presentation.
| junar wrote:
| 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...
| Cerium wrote:
| The company gets not just better employees, but marginally
| cheaper ones. Healthier employees reduce health insurance
| premiums for corporate group plans.
| [deleted]
| winternett wrote:
| 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
| LouisSayers wrote:
| If you're poor then it's definitely appreciated. If you've got
| money then it's nice, but doesn't have the same effect.
| lhorie wrote:
| In chinese culture, it's a pretty normal thing to give red
| envelopes with cash inside[0]
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelope
| dlhavema wrote:
| I get those from my boss every year. pretty cool tradition.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| Those are a family thing, though. Other than at my wedding,
| I've only ever received a straight cash gift from family
| members (eg, grandparents).
| AussieWog93 wrote:
| Every Chinese kid gets these during the New Year
| celebrations. It's not a family thing so much as it's
| cultural.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| But mostly within families, right? Admittedly I don't
| have any first hand exposure to these customs, but are
| red envelopes being given at work parties or between
| adult friends? The Wikipedia article cited in this thread
| is a bit vague on this:
|
| "Red envelopes are gifts presented at social and family
| gatherings such as weddings or holidays such as Chinese
| New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good
| luck and is a symbol to ward off evil spirits. It is also
| gifted when a person is visiting as a gesture of kindness
| for visiting. The act of requesting red packets is
| normally called tao hongbao or yao lishi, and in the
| south of China, dou li shi. Red envelopes are usually
| given out to the younger generation who are normally
| still in school or unemployed."
|
| I loved Sacred Economics and I'm all about figuring out
| how to reintegrate potlatching and other gift economy
| ideas into the western world. We desperately need
| mechanisms other than inheritance for transferring wealth
| to the younger generations. So I'd love to hear that
| these practices _are_ occurring outside extended
| families, but that 's not been my impression.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| I'm with you. Cash for adults. Toys for kids. If it discourages
| anyone from giving me a gift in the future, that's all the
| better. I like give _giving_ , not gift _exchanging_.
| mavhc wrote:
| https://jeremyperson.com/2009/12/25/dilbert-christmas-gifts
|
| I'm terrible at gifts, but I'd never give cash/gift cards (cash
| that expires and you can only spend in one shop)
|
| The point of a gift is to show that you understand your
| friend/family member and have spent your own time to try to
| make them happy
| geek_at wrote:
| I agree to an extent but if you know somebody is saving up
| for something (eg. niece saving up for a gaming pc) then it's
| a great gift to bring them closer to their goal.
|
| For a co-worker you should probably think a bit harder
| mavhc wrote:
| If they ask for cash, fair enough
| cm2012 wrote:
| "Every year I give Leslie the same present I give everyone. A
| crisp twenty dollar bill..."
| cmckn wrote:
| 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 added, so
| they often end up forcing the recipient to spend some of their
| own money (or they gather dust until they expire).
|
| I know some people are "hard to buy for" but this might be an
| indication that you shouldn't be giving them a gift. If you
| don't know them well enough to have a gift idea, or don't feel
| comfortable asking for ideas, are you really obligated to get
| them something?
| lostcolony wrote:
| My wife did something amazing this year that I think is
| relevant here. She had a baby shower to go to. She didn't
| know what to get the mother to be.
|
| So she bought an Amazon gift card. And then she created a
| wishlist of items she thought the mother might need, doing
| the research to find reputable brands, unique solutions to
| problems, "best mom gadgets", etc (such as the pacifier that
| you can put liquids into; it lets you get liquid medicines
| into the baby, like cough syrup, without stress). She sent
| the gift card, and the link to the wishlist with an
| explanation.
|
| It was both a pragmatic and thoughtful approach, without the
| risk of buying something she already had, or didn't need or
| want.
| winternett wrote:
| 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]
| smokey_the_bear wrote:
| I don't like getting Knickknacks, but my favorite kitchen
| accessories make good gifts for many people. Instant read
| thermometers, silicone oven mits, etc
| Broken_Hippo wrote:
| Someone being "hard to buy for" isn't a reflection of how
| well you know them (or if you don't know them). It is simply
| a reflection of not quite being able to buy them some of the
| things they'd really enjoy. It is hard to buy art supplies
| for the artist if you don't make art yourself, and it is
| similarly difficult to buy an avid reader books since you
| don't know what books they've read. On top of it all, they
| might not need or want much - or simply not express the wants
| well.
| jerlam wrote:
| 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.
| svachalek wrote:
| 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.
| tqi wrote:
| From the article:
|
| Personal financial columnists and comedians do not understand
| the jobs that gift cards do. They are not cash-but-worse-in-
| every-way. Closed loop cards allow a giver to personalize a
| gift to the recipient. A Barnes and Noble gift card to a
| favorite niece tells that niece that you remember she is a
| reader, unlike those uncreative family members who would just
| give her cash.
|
| If anyone's psychology is being manipulated, it is likely the
| recipient, on a theory very similar to the one that causes many
| readers' employers to offer a gym stipend instead of the
| equivalent amount of salary. You appreciate the money more, not
| less, because of the story about your relationship it comes
| with.
| pdabbadabba wrote:
| Cash in a nice card can certainly be as good or better than a
| gift card. It's not necessarily a faux-pas. But it really
| depends on the situation. _In some cases_ a gift card can be
| better if it is clear that the giver put some thought into the
| selection of the card (i.e., where it can be redeemed). There
| is something about the fact that the funds on a gift card can
| only be used in a restricted way that encourages the recipient
| to use it on something special. When I get cash, by contrast, I
| usually just put it in my bank account. I appreciate getting
| it, but its a different experience from a well selected gift
| card. (This can be at least partially addressed by including a
| note with the cash with some ideas on how to spend it.)
|
| Note, however, that I'm assuming that the gift card is _well
| selected._ In practice, I find that this is usually not the
| case--probably because the giver was simply looking for an
| alternative to giving cash. Under these circumstances I agree
| that cash is actually better. There are few gifts worse than a
| gift card to a restaurant you don 't like, for products you
| aren't interested in, or to a totally generic store.
|
| I think the gold standard remains a thoughtful, nonmonetary
| gift. But that's often just not realistic.
|
| Edit: A sibling comment points out that this is all cultural.
| And they're exactly right. So I suppose I should specify that
| I'm a Christmas-celebrating American. YMMV for gift-giving
| holidays and rituals from other traditions.
| mrfusion wrote:
| I wish this were a real thing:
| https://mobile.twitter.com/TwoClawsMedia/status/121003095448...
| cosmojg wrote:
| The opposite is true in my circles. Cash is always appreciated
| while gift cards will earn you dirty looks from bystanders and
| an awkward, "Erm, uh, thanks!" from the recipient.
| oneoff786 wrote:
| It's not really a faux pas but it's not very thoughtful.
| Receiving a small amount of money is also irrelevant to most
| middle class and above people.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| I don't see a gift card as much more thoughtful than cash,
| but there's at least the slight push of "use this to spoil
| yourself" when it's something indulgent like Starbucks, the
| liquor store, Steam, whatever. Versus cash where you may have
| _given_ it with that intent, but it just as easily ends up
| folded into the general pot and becoming something boring
| like gas, groceries, whatever.
| chongli wrote:
| Yeah exactly. As the article points out, if you give
| someone a gift card to a book store knowing they're an avid
| reader then that person will presumably use it to buy some
| books they really want to read. Then when they're reading
| they'll think of you and feel good. On the other hand, if
| you go out and just buy them some books they might smile
| and thank you sheepishly but then those books might sit
| unread on a shelf forever.
|
| People's tastes can be _very_ specific and so it may be
| very difficult to buy them a gift they'll truly appreciate
| and enjoy unless you're very close. It's much easier to buy
| a gift card for a retailer (coffee, books, video games,
| makeup, fashion) in their area of interest than to try to
| buy something truly suited to their tastes. This is
| especially the case for casual acquaintances such as
| coworkers.
| lmkg wrote:
| 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.
| Ntrails wrote:
| Lets be clear, a gift card is just as shitty a gift - it just
| manages to be a mite less crass
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| A gift card is more crass and far shittier than cash. It is
| giving me an obligation to shop somewhere and to keep track
| of that.
|
| I do not want to carry a stupid gift card around with me,
| or have to remember to use it, or how much more is left on
| it. And the principle of it is that the cash they could
| have given you is now earning the retailer interest?
| Symbiote wrote:
| 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."
| unclenoriega wrote:
| This is the same idea behind giving a gift card (if it's
| done thoughtfully).
| ska wrote:
| > This is generally solved with a note alongside the cash.
|
| I think "solved" here should be "mitigated". Certainly
| culturally it seems lots of people don't consider this
| equivalent although logically it could be seen as "better".
| mrfusion wrote:
| 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.)
| philote wrote:
| If it's a type of exchange where that may happen, then
| neither side likely needs the money. It's best to get just
| give a card. I think cash is more appropriate for
| parents/grandparents/aunts giving money to their
| kids/grandkids/etc, and less appropriate between peers. If
| you feel the need to get your peer something, then get them
| something you think they may like. If you don't know what
| that is, then IMO you should stick with a card or nothing
| at all.
|
| My family has been moving away from gift giving, in favor
| of spending time together instead. Show people you care for
| them all year long and don't buy in to these over-
| commercialized traditions.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| I zelle'd (US instant payment system for participating
| financial institutions) someone their cash wedding gift, to
| heck with social convention.
| sabujp wrote:
| this is the correct way, fast, no transaction fees, no one
| takes a cut
| hamandcheese wrote:
| Is it? In my family it definitely isn't.
| ncpa-cpl wrote:
| My family accepts cash and equivalents for Christmas.
|
| The past four Christmas I've sent bank transfers on the 25th.
|
| Shopping malls, ATMs and banks get just too crowded those
| days.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Probably some trade consortium trying to convince you that
| cash is looked down upon. I've yet to meet a younger person
| who didn't appreciate "cold hard cash" in a card, a la Lucy
| Van Pelt.
| TigeriusKirk wrote:
| We make the same "hope it fits" joke every year and everyone
| still smiles, so I guess it works fine.
| tfang17 wrote:
| 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.
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