

Number of the Week: Billions in Gift Cards Go Unspent - jsherry
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/24/number-of-the-week-billions-in-gift-cards-go-unspent/

======
makecheck
It amazes me that gift cards are _ever_ purchased by anyone. The only possible
benefit is to the vendor, in _every_ scenario, and this should be obvious:

\- If you spend less than the card amount and don't use the rest, the vendor
wins.

\- If you spend more than the card amount, the vendor wins.

\- If you somehow spend the exact amount on the card, the vendor still wins
because they made you buy something at _their_ store instead of a
competitor's. Also, the card amount influenced the decision of what to buy,
which wouldn't have happened when using cash.

It is also not only an unimaginative gift but a _bad_ gift, because:

\- You are compelling the recipient to shop at a particular store (a store
that may not have what he or she really wants).

\- You are _probably_ compelling him or her to spend money that wouldn't have
been spent otherwise, because the card may not cover everything (in this way,
it's like a tax). And if more money isn't spent, the "gift" is worth even less
than it was supposed to be.

\- You are stating pretty clearly what you think the person is worth. If I
receive something nice, I might not think "this is worth $5", but when I am
given a gift card I feel "oh, they think I'm only worth spending $5 on".

It would be nice if people would just identify gift cards as a massive scam
and start giving real gifts again (or at least get over the apparent stigma
carried with gifts of cash).

