Do you like gift cards/certificates?

In My Humble Opinion
41

On the one hand, I’ve got a collection of partially used store gift cards - $3.27 left on one, $2.19 remaining on another - you get the picture. They’ve been sitting around for years. Basically they are crap and I should just bin them.

On the other hand, most of my family now gives American Express or MasterCard gift cards. They are as good as cash. Sure, it’s impersonal…whatevah’. In the past I’ve been able to combine them to get a nice item I want - that I wouldn’t spend my money on otherwise. It can be a minor pain at the checkout, 'cause some stores have idiotic policies/procedures. But it works out - I turn them into a “gift” after all.

42

NO, NO, NO. Gift cards are just money, except with strings attached. If you can’t come up with an actual give, how about you skip the middle man and just give me cash?

Otherwise, go to Barnes and Noble and pick out a book or CD you think I might like and throw a gift receipt in with it. But just giving the card is pretty dumb, imo. I have a Pier One gift card leftover from last year with $18 on it because I never shop at that damn place and there’s nothing I want to buy. I would have rather got nothing than have someone I care about waste their money on something I can’t use.