How about giving cash instead of gift cards?
Cash, the gift that always fits and never has to be returned!

@Triborough: Cash is too impersonal.

So anyone who wants to get me a gift, a check will be fine. Money orders are even better.

Isn't the FDIC insuring gift cards because they technically are deposits?

I'm with you on the cash thing. While I wouldn't give cash to my significant other, I have found nothing that works better for hard to buy for teenage nieces and nephews.

who would horde gift cards? I know I have a few that I forget to use, but the article makes it sound like people save them like cash

I only give gift cards to my neice and nephew. They usually hate anything you get them, so it's easiest just to give them cards to Toysrus. I would never give them cash, their mom would only take it from them and go gambling with it.

here's a link: [www.creditcards.com]

@Triborough: Why? Because people like to at least give the illusion that the gift is somewhat thoughtful. Cash = no effort, no personalization, one size fits all. A gift card to their favorite store at least means you know where they like to shop.

A few things should be pointed out here. Sure, it is theoretically possible that you could receive reimbursement for your gift card, but odds are the money distributed in bankruptcy is going to go to expenses much higher in the food chain (research bankruptcy reimbursement to learn more). If you are reimbursed there is a good chance you won't get the full value. If reimbursement is available they are not going to find you-you are going to have to find them and file your own claim. If you thought getting mail-in-rebates was bad, just wait.

If you've got a gift card to a company which is probably going to go under, use it or try to sell it as best you can. That's the best way to extract value from it. If you've got a gift card for a company which is now filing bankruptcy, you can research this process, but unless you're in financial trouble or the gift card is quite large, it probably won't be worth your time.

Good luck!

Check the back of your card for a disclosure of fees. And I know that gift cards issued in California, possibly other states, cannot depreciate in value except under special circumstances.

Living in Chicago, hating Macy's as we Chicagoians do, Macy's is the perfect picture, and heading right for Bankrupcy like the other red store...circuit city!

@snowburnt: I think to comes down more to gift cards being a common enough gift that you aren't necessarily going to run out and use the random Michael's Crafts gift card or run half an hour across town to go to the Circuit City to spend $50 on overpriced DVDs.

I've actually had a few Blockbuster gift cards go bad - I don't rent movies nearly often enough to remember I have the cards if I do go.

The FDIC issued "Opinion No. 8" a few weeks ago which says they're going to start considering gift cards as "deposits," so seems like you'll be safe unless you manage to get your hands on a gift card with more than $250,000 on it.

I really hate gift cards, but I think everyone I know is aware of that by now. I would much rather not get anything at all than get a gift card.

@snowburnt: For me (at least) it's not so much saving them like cash but more like, "There's nothing I'm really interested in buying from (merchant) right now so I'll hang onto this and see what they have in a few months."

Most of the gift cards I get are from places like Amazon or L.L. Bean, both of which I don't think are going away any time soon.

@snowburnt: I horde gift cards. My company gives out gift cards for stuff. I let them pile up until I have enough to buy what I want. I get, say, a $50 GC to Macy's and a $25 GC to Amazon a month, and I am currently sitting on a pile of Macy's cards.

One of my coworkers bought a big ass Bravia from Amazon recently. You just have to have patience and be on time and get good courtesy scores, that's all. Unless the store goes out of business, of course.

@nsv: A check- the gift that says "I was going to give you money, but I decided to let you go the the bank instead of doing it myself."

@lowercase:

write in the memo line "escort services"

the IRS loves that.

@Triborough:

With the current inflation rate, cash is worth only slightly more than a dodgy gift card.

@morganlh85: .... eeeeexcept that most grocery stores these days have an endcap where you can buy giftcards from 30 different retailers/restaurants. So much for that illusion... :(

@morganlh85: Cash = gives people freedom to buy what they really want, not what you think they might want or what fits into your holiday budget.

@DjDynasty: +1 on Macy's carpetbaggers. I have not set foot in one of their stores since the day the Marshall Field's signs came down.

@Triborough: sounds good to me. i give cash and, on the envelope, write "universal gift card."

@morganlh85: "Cash = no effort, no personalization, one size fits all." Only the person giving cash as a gift thinks that. The person receiving cash as a gift is ecstatic.

Imagine, not having to feign excitement; a 100% chance of getting something you want or need; being able to turn one gift into many; and not being limited to one store or participating stores.

Gift cards were a sick compromise between the doldrums of mediocre gifts and the heavenly scent of a fresh twenty or hundred (or more, for the spoiled brats). Having the chance to buy anything you want, but within the constraints of someone else's judgement of your tastes. Could the flailing economy reverse this?

@morganlh85: I disagree, especially when we're talking a giftcard to Target or some other fairly generic place. Not to mention the disappointment of getting a giftcard to a place you don't really love to shop.

If you want a personalized gift, make something, bake something, or listen to the person and buy something they've been talking about wanting. A giftcard is as impersonal as cash to me, except that you're dictating where I can use that "cash".

@chrisjames: Agreed. And I'm kind of a sentimental gal, I love a thoughtful gift. Nevertheless, cash is king in my book.

@chrisjames: That depends on the person. I feel like cash says "I'm not going to pay enough attention to you to try to please you." I'd be creeped out by receiving cash as a present.

@Triborough: The difference between cash and a gift card is that a gift card will actually be used to get something gifty.

If I get $50, I can't in good conscience spend it on new clothes or kitchen stuff (things I kind of want and need right now). Instead I'd apply it to my credit card, or call it a month's cell phone bill. Whatever: something useful.

On the other hand, if I get a $50 gift card to, say, Old Navy, then I have to spend it on clothes so the gifter knows I will actually go get something I want.

@randomangela47: Just to clarify, I don't PERSONALLY think gift cards are a thoughtful gift. This is just why I have seen others buy people gift cards instead of simply giving cash. I don't mind receiving either one, really, but I would never call it a personal gift.

Not to mention, at some stores, like the Giant Eagle grocery franchise in Pennsylvania, give "Fuel Perks" points where you get a gas discount at their gas station when you purchase gift cards and other merchandise. So if you buy, say, a $50 gift card, you get 10 cents off your next gas purchase. I know that's why OUR family buys gift cards a lot :)

@DjDynasty: I hate Macy's too but damn, when I needed a plus-size cocktail dress for a formal work function, their flagship Herald Square store in NYC was the most useful and affordable place I landed in a solid week of shopping.

@morganlh85: Except the illusion is so transparent that glass seems opaque by comparison. The person getting the gift card knows that the person didn't put much effort into getting them what they want.

I'd consider the "one size fits all" aspect to be the plus of getting cash. I'm pretty sure 90% of people would rather have a gift they want than a "thoughtful" gift. For instance, it might be thoughtful to get me a video game because I like them, but I won't be all that happy getting a game I already have or know I won't enjoy. Cash is guaranteed to at least bring me closer to getting what I want. Yes, a gift card can do the same thing, but with more restrictions. What happens if someone gets me a gift card for Best Buy knowing I like electronics, but the item I'm looking for can be found cheaper elsewhere?

And since that extra bit of "thoughtfulness" really wasn't all that thoughtful, what's the point?

@EtoilePB: Ugh... one time my husband got a $50 gift card to Old Navy. I had to go there and wade through the crap till I could find some clothes he might actually wear. Neither of us actually like clothes from there, plus when we have bought/received clothes from there, they end up shrinking in weird ways so that they don't fit right after one wash.

This is why I think cash is much better than gift cards. I would rather spend cash paying my cell phone bill than get a gift card to Old Navy and end up buying crappy clothes.

@floraposte: You sound high-maintenance! :(

I love cash... and I'll still find you INCREDIBLY throughtful if you'll bake me some of my favorite cookies. :D

@nsv:

I love getting cash for gifts. It doesn't tie me to spending it in one particular store and I don't have to worry about it expiring/the store going bankrupt.

Several thoughts on gift cards, from someone who has worked retail.

1) People really do hoard gift cards. I have had customers come in with gift certificates that are years old. The store I worked at never let them expire, but a lot do.

2) VISA etc. gift cards are in general a bad scene, even without the threat of the company going under. There are significant fees and you often have to know your balance exactly or you will have to call in to get your balance (which involves, surprise! Another fee). If you receive one of these, it's best to use it right away and hopefully all in one swoop instead of using it for several different purchases.
3) At some stores it is possible to redeem your gift card for cash. Every store has a different policy, but the store I worked at allowed it in many cases.

@morganlh85: Advertising has told me cash is impersonal, that's why I convert it to strictly limited and potentially worthless gift cards.

You know, a gift card or cash does not have to be an impersonal present. Including a heartfelt note not only lets them know how you feel but reminds you of what the person means to you.

I love stuff, but it is the actions and feelings of people over the holidays that I remember from year to year, not the gifts.

@morganlh85: That's interesting, I'm in Ohio and our Giant Eagles give 20 cents off per gallon for every $50 spent. We just recently got $1 off, per gallon and filled up the tank for only $15! It was great.

I don't get gift certificates. As the late Mitch Hedberg put it:

"I don't get gift certificates, it's like: here's 20 dollars you could spend anywhere, and now it's 20 dollars you can only spend at Applebees."

In the past when we have gotten gift cards for places we don't shop and insisted they give us cash. "There is nothing in this store that I care to buy. Nothing. Not one single thing."

I think we were batting .500 on successfully getting cash back.

@nataku83: Ok, I can make you happy then. Keep your eye out for an empty box. Heck, why bother with the postage? Pretend you got an empty box from me.

Honestly I think cash is best. Its REALLY not fun when your cousins go to Toys R Us on Dec. 26th to spend their cards and they get to the register only to find out that the card machine is down for the day! Especially after driving all the way there (its a 30 min drive to TRU from here) and not being able to find out about the error until you get to the store. This sort of thing happens everywhere, and especially on the day after Christmas when kids want to go to the store to pick up whatever presents Santa didn't bring so give cash and you get happy kids who can buy the toys and video games they want anywhere.

You don't have to worry about the one store where your kids have gift cards to being out of stock on the items that they want either. Also a good time to take the opportunity to show them where the lowest price is on the items that they want so they don't waste 20$ just because they have to buy it from store x because they have a gift card to store x.

@kittenfoo: Ditto for my teen and college-age cousins. Sometimes I take the cash and fold it up into different shapes for fun.

@kittenfoo: Funny Christmas cash story:

My brother gave some Christmas money to his teenage nephews on his wife's side of the family. Being the GIANT dork he is, he stamps all of his bills with the wheresgeorge dot com web address to track where the bills travel by their cereal number (he wants to get all 50 states, don't ask me why.)

So he logs onto his account December 26th to see if anyone has signed in to make updates on where his bills have traveled. Sure enough, someone had. Less than 12 hours after the cash had been gifted, the bills with the cereal numbers given to his nephews were used to buy weed. (The drug dealer thought it was funny to post: "Got this from a customer of mine, heading out now to stock up on more Mary Jane". Needless to say, my brother and his wife don't give teenagers cash anymore.

@Marshfield: Thanks man, I appreciate it!

@Cameraman: I hate getting like a $25 Macy's Gift card because it's impossible to get something for 25 dollars there :/ so you gotta spend money to use it

Ugh, gift cards are possibly the absolute worst gift you can give someone (after religous crap).

"I don't know enough about you to get you a real gift and giving cash is tacky, so I'm giving you a card that is really cash that can only be spent at one store. Oh, and by the way, it expires in a year and at some stores, a little bit will disappear every month. Merry Xmas / Happy birthday -whatever"

@morganlh85: Giftcard = no effort, no personalization, one size fits all. Gift cards are to single stores. Cash is to all stores.
Gift cards haven't been around for that long. It's sad so many people for some reason feel a gift card is a better gift than cash, when a gift card is so limited and a lot of times very annoying to use.

Wasn't there a list of companies that are possibly closing their doors and that you shouldn't buy gift cards from them?

BTW, Carlos-o'Kelly's in Fairview heights, IL is out of business. So if you have any gift cards or certificates from them you just as well trash them.