Gift cards are getting to be a more and more popular gift-giving option, but they’re not without their drawbacks. Dormancy fees, expiration dates, etc. If you’re not careful, that generous gift that you just received from Aunt Martha might just slip away. With the foregoing in mind, I wanted to get a sense for how many people out there got gift cards over the holidays this year. We did, and we’ve spent some of them, but haven’t (yet) touched others. How about you?
{democracy:23}
Note: If the poll doesn’t work properly in the RSS feed you’ll have to click through. Sorry.
When I got married we got a ton of BB&B and HD gift cards, all of which got used. Most of the HD gift cards went towards insulation for the attic, and what was left went towards replacing our back door after we got broken into. For the holidays, we got a linens and things card, but that was just a few days ago since I didn’t get down to CT to see my sister until this past weekend. My guess is that she thinks we’ll use it on a towel warmer, but we have no room in our bathroom for it and our only plug is directly above the sink (I haven’t bothered moving it I just switched it for a GFCI outlet). I am sure my wife will make use of it in short order though.
I got one gift card for a small amount so that’s already been spent.
I agree — I hate getting them. If you’re not going to bother shopping, just give me the cash. I’ll decide how to spend it.
Target is now doing something interesting. I don’t know how long ago they started it or the extent to which they do it. They are offering store rebates on some items. This sort of rebate I don’t object to. It is issued automatically at the register when you pay for your purchases. There are no tricky conditions or pre-expried deadlines.
What Target has done that makes these different is that the rebate comes in the form of a Target gift card. What it works out to is a hybrid somewhere between a rebate and a buy 2 get 1 free deal. You get the equivalent of a buy 2 get 1 free, but the freebie can be anything for that amount in the store. We’ve seen this deal from time to time on certain brands of soda.
I really wish people would stop giving gift cards. What ever happened to good old fashioned cash? Gift cards are less helpful to the recipient, but gost the giver the same. Unless you get a ShareBuilder gift card, you can’t invest the card value (to buy something even bigger in the future).