# Gift cards you'l use vs. gift cards you won't **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002 "2005-12-23T19:47:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/1 "2005-12-23T19:47:32Z")
Someone gave me a gift card to Starbucks – I don’t drink coffee. Well, usually – luckily I have a standing Sunday morning Starbucks date with a pal, so I guess I’ll be treating for the next month or so. But I definitely did have a pang when I saw it was Starbucks and not Borders or B&N, either of which would have been a snap for me to use. Have you gotten any gift cards this year? Are they to establishments you frequent, or did some corporation just make free money off a clueless relative or colleague? ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/2 "2005-12-23T21:42:42Z")
Would you consider re-gifting it? That’s what I would do, although it is hard for me to imagine a store where I couldn’t find something for me or for someone I wanted to buy a gift for. I am not much of a coffee drinker, either, but Starbucks has pastries and tea, and I do like those. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/3 "2005-12-23T21:48:47Z")
Nah, I’ll use it – no doubt my friend E. will be delighted to let me get his double mocchiottos (sp?) for a few weeks. I’m just whining because it wasn’t from somewhere “good.” ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/4 "2005-12-23T21:52:13Z")
I got one last year for $50 from PF Changs\*. Where I never eat and the one time I did eat there, wasn’t impressed. Just found it the other day and have no idea what to do with it… \*It was a gift from the girls I coach. They asked the other coach’s husband what they should get and he recommended his favorite restaurant. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/5 "2005-12-23T22:19:49Z")
Send it to me!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/6 "2005-12-23T22:24:03Z")
I remember reading last year about websites where you can exchange gift cards you don’t want for ones you do. I’m at work and the internet is very limited here, so I can’t google for you myself, but I bet if you googled “gift card exchange”, you could find them yourself. I haven’t got any gift cards myself this XAMS. I did get a (very generous!) card to MAC for my birthday this year from my friends. Oooh, that was a fun day. ---
**Author:** ![DoperChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@DoperChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoperChic)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/7 "2005-12-23T22:28:15Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I remember reading last year about websites where you can exchange gift cards you don’t want for ones you do. > > \ [Here’s](http://www.cardavenue.com/) one such site, **twickster**. I hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/8 "2005-12-23T23:20:26Z")
For some reason, people have been giving me a lot of Bath and Bodyworks gift cards lately. My skin care regimine is extremely basic; I have some (unscented, dye-free) products that I like, and I get them at the supermarket. I don’t want scented candles, scented soap, scented lotion, or stuff like that. And inevitably if I do find a scent I might like, all they have in that scent is bubble bath and “body splash.” All their liquid hand soap is antibacterial, which I refuse to buy because I’m kind of against breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria for no good reason. Any practical items they might have (natural sponges, pumice stones, nail brushes, etc.) all seem to only come in expensive gift baskets. So usually I buy a bottle of shampoo and tube of True Blue cuticle conditioner (which, in all fairness, rocks), then I give the balance to my friend who likes their stuff. The bad news for my friend is that I haven’t gotten any this year (so far!). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/9 "2005-12-24T01:26:45Z")
> [@DoperChic](#): > > [Here’s](http://www.cardavenue.com/) one such site, **twickster**. I hope this helps. Cool! What will they think of next? [/amazed oldster] ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/10 "2005-12-24T02:11:40Z")
$10 gift card to Walmart. I don’t even know where a Walmart is–I’m pretty sure I’d spend about $10 in gas to get there (because Iwould get lost). Also, a $10 gift card to one of two suburban malls. I would get lost going to either of these malls, they are probably even further away than Walmart, and for $10 there’s not much I could buy at the stores I 'd go to there anyway. At least at Walmart I could probably get something for my $10, once I got there. Both of these were from my office, as some kind of incentive or another. My husband’s office gives somewhat better incentives–$25 gift card to TGI Fridays. We probably won’t use it. He also got a $25 Starbucks and that one worked out well for both of us. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-cards-youl-use-vs-gift-cards-you-wont/337002/11 "2005-12-24T02:30:02Z")
I got a $20 card for **Long’s Drugstore** from a good friend. At first I was nonplussed–after all, how much thought could have possibly gone into THAT? Well, it turned out that I _was_ in need of a couple of toiletry items, so it turned out to be an okay, if somewhat boring, gift.