you didn’t really think i was going to skip blogging for the entire month of november, did you? truth be told, i haven’t been inspired by anything long enough to devote time to writing about it. but, since that’s pretty much a cop-out, i’ll share a brief rant about something that seems to irritate me a little more with each holiday season.
gift cards.
don’t get me wrong, gift cards aren’t entirely awful. they aren’t entirely necessary though, either. personally, few things frustrate me as much as a gift with strings attached. of course, aunt mabel who gives her nieces and nephews giftcards to their favorite clothing retailers for christmahanakwanzaka has every intention of doing something nice for her relatives. the clothing retailers, however, have something a little less innocent in mind.
hypothetically speaking, let’s suppose my grandmother gives me a gift card to h&m for $40.00. first, how often does a nice, round number like $40.00 appear at the register after taxes, etc.? that means i find a couple of things i like, and they total more or less than $40.00. then i either, a) wind up paying for part of my present and giving the retailer more money than my grandmother originally budgeted for my gift (score one for the retailer), or b) i don’t end up using all of the amount that day. of course, it doesn’t stop there. i either a) forget about the remaining amount on the gift card (score one for the retailer), or b) i wind up using the rest on another visit to the store, where i’ll inevitably spend more than the amount left on the card (score yet another one for the retailer). still, another potential scenario exists. personally, i have found myself searching for that one bargain item that will bring my total somewhere close to the amount of the gift card. usually, i end up picking something i never would have bought otherwise. i’ve only chosen it because if it’s convenient price tag.
of course, the above scenarios all assume that the gift card actually gets used. every year, retailers take in billions of dollars for free. according to consumer reports, 19% (or 8-billion dollars worth) of gift cards given last year went unused. they also project that 27% of gift cards given this year will suffer the same fate. it doesn’t stop there. news reports after the holidays are constantly reminding their viewers to use their gift cards before their values start to depreciate. are you serious? you’re actually going to charge me for hanging onto the gift card until i find the perfect gift (or until i find it buried in the bottom of a drawer)?
this is ridiculous. the last time i checked, no one is giving gifts with the hope that their friends and loved ones will never use them.
granted, i acknowledge that cash has its drawbacks. let’s say aunt mabel’s nephew only spends his cash on ramen, dvd’s and video games, but she really wants him to have some nice, new clothes. in this instance, if the nephew can be trusted to actually use the gift card, it doesn’t seem as unreasonable. if, however, her nephew is responsible enough to spend the equivalent cash from aunt mabel in a way she would find acceptable, cash is the obvious choice. he can spend the cash where he chooses, without spending more, thus, not becoming victim to the retailers’ scheme.
unfortunately, it looks like the gift card is here to say. this probably has a lot to do with retailers and talk show hosts telling us cash just isn’t as good. the person who gives cash clearly doesn’t care as much about us, doesn’t know as much about us, or is just plain lazy.
well, the last time i checked, cash spends wherever i like to do my shopping, and it doesn’t come with any strings attached. i know it’s a little old fashioned, but personally, i always like receiving gifts that don’t fit as conveniently into an envelope, but i acknowledge i can be difficult to shop for, and sometimes it’s not practical to ship oddly shaped gifts.
the bottom line is this: gift cards aren’t evil, but the corporations who tell us we need to buy gift cards to be good family members or friends might be. so maybe we should all think really hard about whether a gift card is such a good idea before we give in to the capitalist machine responsible for its existence.
Tags: , christmahanakwanzaka, gift cards, holiday gift giving, holiday shopping
December 14, 2007 at 10:25 am
i strongly concur, cozette! i have never bought a gift card and i loathe receiving them! it’s almost as bad as cash–i feel as though the giver didn’t put much effort into thinking about me or my interests. no matter the monetary amount, it still feels cheap! i don’t care how hard you think i may be to shop for, i would never consider any gift “bad” (unless it’s a gift card, which doesn’t really count). btw, i never thought about how much money retailers are making off these cards–thank you for such an informative post! happy holidays!