rant - always give cash/check as gift, not some stupid store gift card

[tmc]

<rant>
The parents wanted to give a gift to a teacher who took extra efforts (above and beyond!) towards the kids in studies.

Everyone chipped in and collected $250. I suggested we give check or cash for the amount.

Someone else who "claimed" to know the teacher suggested target gift card and they ended up buying that.

It turns out the teacher never shops at target and converted it to a visa card at local target store at ~6% charge (lost $$$ for the conversion!).
</rant>

Giving cash/check may look silly, but it works!!!

Well, good for target in getting free monies!!!

that is all.

edit - fixed the % amount since i am not sure.

 

[bruceb]

I agree. We had a prize drawing to divvy up some extra amount and people ended up with 2 gift cards, from different places. For ex: $10 at Fridays and $10 at Walgreens .. Now I almost never go into Walgreens and $10 at Fridays might just about cover a lunch. It would be better to give cash or one card for the total.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

My in-laws gave me a Best Buy gift card for Christmas (I think it was $100 IIRC). I went to Best Buy and bought $100 worth of Amazon gift cards. The kicker? They had some promotion going on and they gave me an additional $15 gift card for my troubles.

 

[KB]

Whenever I get gift cards I always end up with something left over, like $3.57, and don't want anything enough at the store to spend my cash so it sits on the card until it expires. I prefer cash too.

 

[gamefreakgcb]

This is something I don't get. I keep telling my family not to give gift cards. Just give cold hard cash. If not, a Visa or Amex gift card. Giving a store gift card is useless unless you know for sure the recipient shops there all the time.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Alice: A gift certificate is completely different from cash.
Dilbert: No, it's not. They're both pieces of paper you can exchange for goods and services.
Alice: You're missing the point.
Dilbert: Actually, a gift certificate is worse than cash, because you can only use it in one place.
Wally: And it expires.
Alice: At least it shows some thought.
Dilbert: It shows defective thought. You're trading perfectly good money for something that does the same thing, only not as well.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0560466/quotes

 

[Exterous]

There is some sort of stigma against cash\checks\cheques though. Many people think that shows the gift giver is being lazy and not putting any thought into the gift; that the gift doesn't mean as much.

Edit: Now that I think about it there is some psychology behind that. If you give someone a small amount of money it has been shown that that doesn't improve their happiness level much as they treat it much more like 'normal' money than something that they could use to form more 'special' memories with.

There was a TED talk about charity, how people give and the emotional ties to gifts

 

[Fritzo]

If you can't get a proper gift, don't give anything. I hate giving cash as gifts.

 

[lupi]

Have no problem giving or getting a card as long as its not some obscure niche place. If you think your above doing some decent shopping for free items at target, perhaps it's time to rethink your life.

 

[tynopik]

I can see the value of gift cards precisely because they can only be used in one place

That said, it needs to be a more specialty place, like a craft store or a chocolate store or possibly even itunes, but not a general store like walmart or target

If you give cash, it will just get lost in the general funds

but if you give them $50 to a chocolate store, you're 'forcing' them to get a treat for themselves instead of just using it to pay bills.

 

[Newell Steamer]

I am OK with gift cards.

I can't figure out the horror most people seem to feel and experience with the whole gift card route. Some people act like hunks of their flesh is being shaved off with a rusty knife when they use a gift card - relax,.. it's not that bad.

 

[rudeguy]

really OP? This bothers you that much?

/me thinks OP needs to get out of the house

 

[z1ggy]

I usually just gave the teacher an apple and then hoped she bone me.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

If you can't get a proper gift, don't give anything. I hate giving cash as gifts.

How do you feel about getting cash as gifts? Personally, I enjoy it. Apparently I'm hard to shop for because people rarely give me anything that I would have bought on my own. Cash is always welcome. And, hey, believe me, I'll use it to buy something nice for myself. My aunt gave me cash for my birthday and I used it to buy a top-shelf bourbon that she never in a million years would have gotten me. That's so much better than a gift card to Best Buy or whatever.

Also, what's all this about gift cards expiring? I was under the impression that gift cards legally couldn't expire. Maybe that's a state level statute. Per Oregon DOJ:

Card expiration dates. Unless they were sold at a discount, gift cards cannot have an expiration date. If the gift card was sold at a discount, the card may state an expiration date, but it must be at least 30 days after it was sold.

 

[vshah]

i like giving large amounts of money to charity in the person's name. they can't get mad!

 

[OutHouse]

cash/check only for me. giving gift card seems cheap and lazy. my in-laws gave us one 10 years ago for outback for $25.00, still have not used it because the closest outback to us is like a hour away

 

[angminas]

atot doesn't understand the concept of "gift"

 

[NoCreativity]

i like giving large amounts of money to charity in the person's name. they can't get mad!

The Human Fund!

 

[Kaido]

If you can't get a proper gift, don't give anything. I hate giving cash as gifts.

I think times have changed though. I still feel the stigma, but at the same time, I just got some cash for my birthday recently. Like, my aunt & uncle don't have kids & live on the other side of the country, so they always send like $25 since they have zero idea what to get me as an adult. It was great because I took my wife out to a nice little dinner as a treat. My parents sent me a small Amazon gift card, which is just about as good as cash since Amazon has pretty much everything, so I picked up a kitchen gadget I'd been wanting.

I think it's good for the person giving the gift, because it's simple to do & you know they'll use it, and it's good for the person receiving the gift, because then they have the choice of what to use it on & have the added benefit of having an unexpected monetary increase for something you might not otherwise have used it on.

 

[Kaido]

i like giving large amounts of money to charity in the person's name. they can't get mad!

http://i.imgur.com/s2zg1qc.jpg :biggrin:

 

[Imp]

My in-laws gave me a Best Buy gift card for Christmas (I think it was $100 IIRC). I went to Best Buy and bought $100 worth of Amazon gift cards. The kicker? They had some promotion going on and they gave me an additional $15 gift card for my troubles.

I don't know why I was surprised, but I was surprised when I found out that I could "exchange" my Best Buy gift card for iTunes gift cards...

 

[highland145]

i like giving large amounts of money to charity in the person's name. they can't get mad!

http://i.imgur.com/s2zg1qc.jpg :biggrin:

Samaritan's Purse for the relatives at Christmas and I take the tax write off.:biggrin:


Is that wrong?:hmm:


Nope.

 

[Homerboy]

I coach, and have coached many kids sports teams over the years. At the end of the season there is always a collection from the parents where they buy the coach(es) some sort of thank-you gift.

Often this gift includes some novelty "joke" or meaningful item of something funny or poignant that occurred during the course of the season. The other part of the gift is always gift-cards -- of which I have no problem with. Usually they are to a local sporting goods store (I spend enough $ there anyways) Other times they are to local pubs/eateries. Which is nice because it then forces me (in a good way) to go out and have a good time (more often than not with the other coaches of the team).

Now I do not like giving or getting generic gift cards to/from people for birthdays, Christmas etc. Personally I think that is a lack of thought and effort. I don't even want cash for that matter. If you know me well enough to get me a gift, get me something that is for ME.

 

[Midwayman]

I can see the value of gift cards precisely because they can only be used in one place

That said, it needs to be a more specialty place, like a craft store or a chocolate store or possibly even itunes, but not a general store like walmart or target

If you give cash, it will just get lost in the general funds

but if you give them $50 to a chocolate store, you're 'forcing' them to get a treat for themselves instead of just using it to pay bills.

This. A lot of times cash just goes in the bank and the person ends up using it to pay bill or whatever. I guess if your intent is to treat them to something they wouldn't normally by for themselves gift cards help that happen. However you have to know the person you're buying for well enough to target what they like. If you buy people GC from outback or omaha steaks or random worthless shit like that you deserve the hate.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I don't like getting gift cards for places I don't regularly go. I like them OK for places I go. I don't like checks though, because I don't like going to the bank regularly, and a check is sort of like a gift card for the bank.

I will happily accept Amazon gift cards the same as cash.