I think the rules go like this:
Get something the recipient will enjoy.
If the person you are giving it to would like a gift card, go for it. If you’re not sure either ask or try to get something physical for them.
:eek: Really? A limit?
So there’s two issues with gift cards:
-
Emotional – Is it thoughtless to not take the time to pick out a particular gift, or is it thoughtful to let the recipient pick what they really want? Opinions can vary, and depend on the circumstance as well.
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Economic – Many (especially from chain stores) are set up to be rip-offs. As pointed out, they’re usually set up to have a use fee, a not-used fee, a monthly fee, a yearly fee, a leap-year fee, a ‘CEO pay fund’ fee, a ‘mandatory conversion into rubles and back at the least favorable rates’ fee, and a ‘we don’t even care enough to plausibly justify this fee’ fee. All carefully explained in extremely fine print that is visible in a locked file drawer in an abandoned office in the basement of corporate headquarters.
This is why I think they’re a really bad idea. Unless you’re really trying to give a gift to Best Buy, rather than your friend/relative.
I think it depends on the people involved. Some people like getting gift cards, some find it insulting.
Like many have already said, it depends. Most of my family gets gift cards from me, partly because we are not close enough geographically for me to have a good idea what would be a good gift. I do try to get the cards to places I know they like shopping. Sometimes I’ll send a little gifty item like a paperback book or piece of jewelry along with it that I think they would enjoy. Generally the feedback is positive, since several family members are retired or out of work and the opportunity to get out and shop is as much appreciated as the gift card itself (or so they tell me, anyway). My mom tells me my dad would be upset if he did not get his Barnes & Noble gift card on his birthday each year because he looks forward to a day of browsing in the bookstore. Generally I get gift cards as well and enjoy having and using them.
Close friends and my husband get actual gifts since I have a good idea of size and taste.
I love this.
“Daughter, what can I get you for Christmas?”
“I need clothes - anything but sweaters.”
He hears “Mumble jumble bumble gumble sweaters.” Light dawns. A-ha! She needs sweaters!
Dad goes out and buys sweaters.
Daughter opens box and goes WTF, Dad?
I am told that I am difficult to buy for and every year for Christmas I get a handful (or two) of gift cards to a book store. I make a big fuss over them because I love books and I’d rather a gift card than a thoughtless gift.
But the gifts I really remember are the ones people put some thought into. One year an absolutely lovely woman got me a book signed by the author. She stood in line to get it signed for me. The book was very mediocre but the thought was wonderful.
I also don’t think I’m that difficult to buy for - people just don’t really pay attention. For years I told people how hard it was for me to find a set of dimpled beer mugs. I like them for drinking out of and there’s a small story behind them. After about 5 years I finally went a bought some for myself.
Holy cow, I’m amazed at the love/hate coming through in this thread. Rarely have Dopers come down so hard in black-and-white, no gray, no fuzziness, bright-line teams on so pressing an issue.
(For the record, I’m broke as all shit, so gift cards to big-box chain stores that sell everything I need are highly welcome. Yes, as CrazyCatLady said, it means I do a chore. But it’s a chore I have to do anyway, and now I can do it for free.
I think it depends as much on a person’s individual economic situation as it does with etiquette, emotional connotations of giving, holiday spirit, or any of the other reasons that have cropped up.
If I heard you complaining about how hard it was for you to find a set, I would conclude that:
This item is rare
or
you are very picky about what you want for this item.
Either way, I’m not buying it for you.
I wonder how many gift card lovers are thoughtful gift givers. I pay attention to my close friends and family’s interests and I am usually a pretty good gift giver, except for my dad who is impossible to buy for. I hate it when they don’t pay me the same courtesy and give no thought to what I like beyond I like books and music generically. My dad is the next best giver to me in the family, so maybe they find me as difficult to buy for as I do him. Also, like other gift card haters, I don’t like shopping much.
I can be downright miserly at times so it’s nice to get a gift card. If I receive cash, I tend to stuff it in my wallet and use it for gas and groceries.
Gift Cards are like anything else, the amount of thought you put into it will be obvious to the recipient. You can always stick the card to some festive booze/food or a homemade gift to dress it up a bit.
We’re not rich, we can’t buy each other the things we really want. Sometimes it’s nice to get a gift card with a thoughtful note, “I know you’ve been eying a new food dehydrator, hope this helps.”
Really depends- I mean, last year, both my Aunt and my cousin gave me a gift card. Both for something I was interested in: my Aunt gave me a gardening voucher (most garden centres will take 'em, it’s a national scheme) and, though it wasn’t for very much, it pushed something I’d really been wanting from the ‘too much to spend’ category into the ‘worth it’ category, so I wound up getting something really nice I wouldn’t otherwise have had, and happy.
My cousin gave me a voucher for a circus supply shop- which I buy things from- but it’s sitting there unused, because there’s it’s not for enough to make a significant difference to anything I want to buy from there- it’d cover the postage and a little bit off something very expensive. I’d have to spend so much to use it, it’s not worth it.
I’m sure everyone genuinely loves the gifts cards you always get them.
I’m both a gift card lover and someone who puts a lot of thought into getting original gifts that are well-matched to the receiver.
With the possible exception of a gift card to a restaurant (even then, I’m not so sure), I am firmly in the anti-gift card camp. They are economically inefficient. The card is going to come in at a number anywhere from $5-$100 (or more), but how often is anything exactly that amount? Either you’re left with a portion on the card, or you need to spend some of your money to complete the sale. This is less of a problem if it is somewhere you’d usually go anyway.
If you leave $0.03 on the card, it’s only a few pennies, but add that up for all the people that do that. I think it’s a borderline scam by retailers. They get to receive the revenue immediately (usually at the end of the year), and then benefit by waiting for people to “spend” it.
Cash is the better option.
Druther have a gift card than cash – it seems more personal, and unless it’s to Bed Bath & Beyond or someplace I don’t give a shit about, or Starbucks, for that matter (I can always trade those cards to other family members for favors or a quick FF breakfast), they’re fine. In my family we don’t do gifts so much, nuclear family and also all my cousins and so forth. Everyone’s pretty much strapped, so any GC to a grocery store goes to good use. My parents got pretty rich through years of saving, but hardly anyone else in my closer family. Those bastard millionaires in another branch don’t gift at all, which fit in with my closer family’s traditions. Parents raised me, despite that they were poor all through my growing up, with plenty of gifts – nothing expensive, but lots of tchotchkes and such, which I’m sure they sacrificed lots to give us kids – so I don’t expect anything, rarely give anything (I’d rather give a gift for no reason at all, just because), and rarely get anything.
I love GCs, as long as I can get to that place easily enough and buy something either food-related or something like new socks or a new belt.
A gift card lets you pick out a sweater in your own shade of chartreuse.
When I used to accept gifts, I would just toss any gift cards in a drawer. Once in a while, I’d re-gift them to someone if I needed a present. I don’t bother using them. For one thing, I hate trying to figure out how much is on one, or how much is left, and I triply can’t stand being behind anyone at a register doing that.
I finally got the message across to some people though, by cutting them up in front of the givers.
Heck, I won’t even buy the ‘refillable’ cards for discounted gas because it’s just a pain.
I really really hate to shop, so giving me a retail gift card is really an annoyance more than anything. Although when we were remodeling our house, the Lowe’s card was most welcome and we were there so often, it didn’t even require a special trip to redeem it. A restaurant card is great for me - any day I don’t have to cook and clean up is a treat! (As long as it’s not Olive Garden or Outback…)
I used to give them to my niece and nephew because I didn’t really know them and their mother told me they loved them. They were also great for my daughter when she was in college 800 miles away - easy to send and she could use them as a treat or for necessities. We would also give them to the my husband’s parents for dinner out - they love Olive Garden.
Thankfully, it’s no longer an issue. We’ve all pretty much quit giving gifts. So much less stressful…
You must be a real hit at parties. The last time I saw someone destroy a present in front of the giver, it was a toddler and he went to time out for doing that.