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braisler · 08-14-2003, 08:15 AM

In my experience, people give gift certificates/ gift cards when they don't know what else to give the person, or don't know the person that well. In that limited way, it can be socially acceptable. I'll give an example. My wife's family is so large that they have instituted a holiday gift exchange so that everyone doesn't have to buy 20 gifts for everyone else. All the names go in the hat and you draw one out. I got the name of one of my wife's cousins that I didn't know that well. I didn't really know what she wanted, but she is a young, pretty woman who takes care of herself and cares about how she looks. My solution was to research a couple of high-end salons in her area and get her a certificate from there. 
I constantly get gift cards from my family and friends. It has become a social norm and I absolutely hate it. I know that these people know me well enough to know what I would like. When they give me a gift card, they are just saying that, "Hey, we didn't give a crap enough to go look for what you actually wanted. You go shop for it." It is actually worse than the social norm, as other people posting here have noted, it is now considered more socially acceptable than cash! What a crock! That, my friends, is what happens when we, as a society, allow advertising to do our thinking for us. These gift cards are a really great trick for the company selling them. Once the money is on there, it never, ever comes off. They know that you are going to underspend the card by a few cents or a few dollars and just throw the card away (in which case they win). Or you are going to spend more than what is on the card (in which case they win again). It is really clever (manipulative?) on part of the marketers. 
Here is what bothers me most about gift cards and the people who give them. I am a very, very careful shopper. Part of it is the way that I was raised, but I believe in straining every last penny out of every dollar that passes through my bank account. I research, I compare, I check shipping an return policies, I examine, and I finally buy knowing that I am getting the best deal. When I get a gift card from Best Buy or some other retailer, it really drives me nuts. I have to spend literally hours wandering around the store knowing that almost everything I see I could get at a better price somewhere else. If I had gotten the cash instead, I could shop where I want and get the most for my money. Wouldn't you rather your friend/loved one/work associate/gift recipient get the most out of your gift? 
Alright, I am almost at the end of my therapeutic rant here. I'll end it with another experience of my own from my personal treasure trove of bitter disappointments. It is an anecdote that, I think, trumps anyone else's story of a bad gift situation. Here's the background: I was getting ready to graduate from college. My parents called to ask me if there was anything that I wanted as a graduation gift. I wasn't neccessarily expecting anything, but, hey they were asking... so I told them that there was some bike gear that I had been needing, and, yes, I would really love that for my graduation present. My dad said to email him a list of what I was looking at. We had done this sort of thing before without a hitch at Christmas and such, so it wasn't like he didn't know where to go to order or anything. Keep in mind that graduation was a couple weeks away so there was plenty of time. In fact, I almost didn't want to tell them about the gear I needed, because I was going to order it myself and have it there sooner. But, like I said, they were offering. 
So graduation day comes and they are so happy and proud. They drive all the way up for the ceremony (a ceremony that I went through only because it meant so much to them). Afterwards we meet up for lunch and they give me this card. Inside the card is a check, no cash, no card, no certificate, just a personal check for, get this, $73.06. WTF!! I didn't get what the check was about. They didn't enclose a note or anything. I thought that they would explain the significance of the amount, but nothin doin'. They just went on as if nothing strange had transpired. They were very talkative about how they had just bought a new minivan for themselves even though their old one was 'just starting to look a little old.' Their words not mine. Which of course made me look out to the parking lot to my 18 year old POS that barely ran and think how I would have loved to have had their 'old' van. But then they wouldn't have gotten the money for the trade in. All the time during this inane and one-sided discussion, I keep rolling around $73.06 in my head. What did it mean? was 73 for 1973? But I was born in 74! And then why the $.06? So, at long last, the day was wrapping up and I headed back to my crappy apartment. I was disillusioned, but I had learned not to expect too much from my parents. I thought, hey, I guess they decided not to buy the bike stuff, I'll go ahead and order it myself. So I go online and order all of the things on the list that I originally sent to Dad. I get to the checkout and the total is $146.12. It's rough, but I need the gear to get my bike working back to normal. Then it hits me!!! $73.06! That is half of $146.12. They gave me a check for HALF of the total of the things that I wanted, no needed, for my bike! That means, they went online, put all of things in their basket, saw the total and said, "Naw, screw that. We'll just give him that amount of money equal to half of what he actually needs to get this gear. After all, we need that extra money to put towards a CD changer in our new minivan." Hot Damn, I was mad. I am sure that I yelled and screamed enough to make my roommates think that the end was near. 
Moral of the story = If someone gives you a gift card, smile and say thank you. At least it isn't some f**king check for half of what you actually wanted. Bitter? Nah, not me. 
What do you guys think? Anyone else got a bad gift story to beat mine?

08-14-2003, 08:15 AM	#32 (permalink)
braisler Addict Location: Midway, KY	In my experience, people give gift certificates/ gift cards when they don't know what else to give the person, or don't know the person that well. In that limited way, it can be socially acceptable. I'll give an example. My wife's family is so large that they have instituted a holiday gift exchange so that everyone doesn't have to buy 20 gifts for everyone else. All the names go in the hat and you draw one out. I got the name of one of my wife's cousins that I didn't know that well. I didn't really know what she wanted, but she is a young, pretty woman who takes care of herself and cares about how she looks. My solution was to research a couple of high-end salons in her area and get her a certificate from there. </P> I constantly get gift cards from my family and friends. It has become a social norm and I absolutely hate it. I know that these people know me well enough to know what I would like. When they give me a gift card, they are just saying that, "Hey, we didn't give a crap enough to go look for what you actually wanted. You go shop for it." It is actually worse than the social norm, as other people posting here have noted, it is now considered <i>more</i> socially acceptable than cash! What a crock! That, my friends, is what happens when we, as a society, allow advertising to do our thinking for us. These gift cards are a really great trick for the company selling them. Once the money is on there, it never, ever comes off. They know that you are going to underspend the card by a few cents or a few dollars and just throw the card away (in which case they win). Or you are going to spend more than what is on the card (in which case they win again). It is really clever (manipulative?) on part of the marketers. </P> Here is what bothers me most about gift cards and the people who give them. I am a very, very careful shopper. Part of it is the way that I was raised, but I believe in straining every last penny out of every dollar that passes through my bank account. I research, I compare, I check shipping an return policies, I examine, and I finally buy knowing that I am getting the best deal. When I get a gift card from Best Buy or some other retailer, it really drives me nuts. I have to spend literally hours wandering around the store knowing that almost everything I see I could get at a better price somewhere else. If I had gotten the cash instead, I could shop where I want and get the most for my money. Wouldn't you rather your friend/loved one/work associate/gift recipient get the most out of your gift? </P> Alright, I am almost at the end of my therapeutic rant here. I'll end it with another experience of my own from my personal treasure trove of bitter disappointments. It is an anecdote that, I think, trumps anyone else's story of a bad gift situation. Here's the background: I was getting ready to graduate from college. My parents called to ask me if there was anything that I wanted as a graduation gift. I wasn't neccessarily expecting anything, but, hey they were asking... so I told them that there was some bike gear that I had been needing, and, yes, I would really love that for my graduation present. My dad said to email him a list of what I was looking at. We had done this sort of thing before without a hitch at Christmas and such, so it wasn't like he didn't know where to go to order or anything. Keep in mind that graduation was a couple weeks away so there was plenty of time. In fact, I almost didn't want to tell them about the gear I needed, because I was going to order it myself and have it there sooner. But, like I said, they were offering. </P> So graduation day comes and they are so happy and proud. They drive all the way up for the ceremony (a ceremony that I went through only because it meant so much to them). Afterwards we meet up for lunch and they give me this card. Inside the card is a check, no cash, no card, no certificate, just a <i>personal</i> check for, get this, $73.06. WTF!! I didn't get what the check was about. They didn't enclose a note or anything. I thought that they would explain the significance of the amount, but nothin doin'. They just went on as if nothing strange had transpired. They were very talkative about how they had just bought a new minivan for themselves even though their old one was 'just starting to look a little old.' Their words not mine. Which of course made me look out to the parking lot to my 18 year old POS that barely ran and think how I would have loved to have had their 'old' van. But then they wouldn't have gotten the money for the trade in. All the time during this inane and one-sided discussion, I keep rolling around $73.06 in my head. What did it mean? was 73 for 1973? But I was born in 74! And then why the $.06? So, at long last, the day was wrapping up and I headed back to my crappy apartment. I was disillusioned, but I had learned not to expect too much from my parents. I thought, hey, I guess they decided not to buy the bike stuff, I'll go ahead and order it myself. So I go online and order all of the things on the list that I originally sent to Dad. I get to the checkout and the total is $146.12. It's rough, but I need the gear to get my bike working back to normal. Then it hits me!!! $73.06! That is half of $146.12. They gave me a <b>check</b> for <b>HALF</b> of the total of the things that I wanted, no needed, for my bike! That means, they went online, put all of things in their basket, saw the total and said, "Naw, screw that. We'll just give him that amount of money equal to half of what he actually needs to get this gear. After all, we need that extra money to put towards a CD changer in our new minivan." Hot Damn, I was mad. I am sure that I yelled and screamed enough to make my roommates think that the end was near. </P> Moral of the story = If someone gives you a gift card, smile and say thank you. At least it isn't some f**king check for half of what you actually wanted. Bitter? Nah, not me. </P> What do you guys think? Anyone else got a bad gift story to beat mine? __________________ --- You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. - Albert Einstein ---