I'm only scared to buy Burger King gift cards. That king dude is freaky!

I think people not buying gift cards is a good thing. Maybe now companies will get rid of all the ridiculous fees and value docking in an effort to push their sales.

I'm not scared, but I won't be buying any, why should I give companies interest free loans?

Gift cards SUCK. Surely everyone around here knows better.

1. A gift card forces you to go to a particular store after the store has already taken someone's money (hooray, cash conversion cycle!)
2. Using one usually means you spend more than face value...either in the first visit, or in a subsequent visit (hooray, incremental revenue!)
3. Many of them reduce in value or completely expire over time (hooray, obsolescence)

Gift cards benefit the store a lot, but the consumer NONE. And these recent hoax "store closure" emails going around aren't helping matters.

I hate gift cards. If you want to be all impersonal and give me some form of cash, at least let me spend it where I want.

Slightly offtopic, but I noticed that this story was tagged with both "Chapter 7" and "Chapter 11". My question is, what if 7-11 goes bankrupt? Do they file Chapter 7, Chapter 11, or both?

I'm not a gift card fan in general, unless they're for small amounts at a place where I spend more than that (like Lowe's, for example). But on a typical $50 gift card, I inevitably wind up leaving like 2 bucks on there and forgetting about it, effectively wasting somebody's money.

But especially now, it doesn't seem like a great idea, because it seems like there's less of a warning right now before a company is suddenly in the tank.

I'm not scared about retailers going under (which, yeah, is a concern). Its more about how retailers are going to have to jack up prices in the new year to make up for the mark downs taken this quarter. Also, I can buy more "stuff" with all of the deals going on now.

@dorianh49: Chapter 7 - 11 = -4

@lowercase: Yeah, I don't mind the one's to Lowe's really, but it's almost like the gift-giver is saying "I am aware that you shop at this establishment"

But I'll add to my list above, this one:

4. You make a return and every store is different on how they divy up which portion of the return goes on the card and which goes back to you. Some prorate the items evenly, others go "card first, cash second," but most just wing it. Sometimes you can ask nicely to have it all refunded to you, but most places act like you're trying to scam them or something.

I never understood why you can't return gift cards for money.

in Alberta, they made it against the law to take fees off if you buy a 50.00 card then it will always be worth 50.00!!!

Gave the wife CC gift card in summer and told her to buen it. Had $11 remaining and I got her a CD. No gift cards for me or to me. Was thinking of gas cards but Im sure theres some fee associated with them. Will slip in US Treasury bills in place of gift cards and if they are intent on getting a gift card the recipient can go buy one. Cant forget Sharper Image and $60 million, pfft!

@APFPilot: Cash is king. The nice thing about being Chinese is that you can just throw cash in a lucky money bag (houang baw) and call it a gift without the Western labeling of it being tacky.

I must be one of the few who *enjoy* getting gift cards. I'm an extremely hard person to shop for, not because I want things that are outrageously priced, or difficult to find, but because I simply don't know what I want! I don't want/need anything this holiday season, and gift cards give me the opportunity to take my time and get something I really want or need - sometimes weeks or months after Christmas. If people are worried about buying gift cards for certain shops, visit your local mall. All the malls around here offer gift cards that can be used in any of the stores in the mall!

I decided this year to go with cash. If someone wants to think it's impersonal, let them. It makes very good sense, especially given the times. I was going to do check, but that makes someone goto the bank. I think most of us when we were kids loved getting that $20 in the envelope and didn't think any less of someone. So rather than making someone waste the gas to goto the store/bank, let them have something they can put right in their pocket and splurge with. It also helps me balance my checkbook more as there isn't checks floating around waiting to be cashed.

As for my delivery, after getting some great responses in a previous post, I think I am going to try my hand at Oragami, and see if I can make some Holiday themed folds.

I buy people nice socks. They don't brake my budget and not too many people spring for expensive ones. And you can NEVER have too many socks.

I like to buy the thicker ones because nothing is more annoying to me than having cold feet. Because once they are cold, they never get warm.

I got an email from Ann Taylor saying that a spam email going around said they are closing stores and not to buy gift cards. Ann Taylor says that this is not true and gift cards from their store are the perfect gift.

@dorianh49: Totally! :)

Oh yeah, and BTW, not all locations take them. Learned that the hard way at Arundel Mills. Hate those F'ers, they won't take any coupons either.

I thought it was great when I got one of those Visa gift cards (although don't you have to pay a few dollars to buy one for someone? if so, that's lame). Anyway they are kind of a hassle to redeem so I blew the entire thing on one grocery trip and then considered the $75 I saved to be as good as cash for a few things I wanted over the next few weeks.

Although gift cards are viewed as unimaginative by some, I prefer to both give and receive them. Every year my boyfriend's family buys me books and CDs from Amazon for full price when I'd do just fine with the cheaper used version. I'm grateful of course, but I make the money go a little further when it's in the form of a gift card.

Not scared to buy them because of retailers going under, but because the card machines that read the cards tend to go down on the day you go to use the card and they can't buy anything since there is no way to get the money off the card without scanning it through the reader. This tends to happen most around the holiday season. Yet if they had cash they could bypass this whole system and buy exactly what they wanted where they wanted.

I have posted and posted about this on here, last year Toys R Us's gift card reading machines went down on Dec. 26th. Talk about a bunch of disappointed kids and angry parents and gift givers. After hearing about that debacle I will never give another gift card. Kids love cold hard cash better than gift cards anyways, at least from my personal experience.

@waystland: Similar in Connecticut; I can bring my expired cards to my brother and he can use them. They can never expire there.

Anyone got a list of financially secure companies?

Cash.

Works at any store.

Dead presidents for the WIN!

@Neecy: You're like me. Every year, grandma gives me a $100 check. I try to document what I did with it and let her know. Don't need a formal Thank You letter, but usually an email at least. "These are the air compressor accessories I bought at Harbor Freight with my check, Gram!!!"

@starrion: Except when the company that backs them goes out of business, which at this point seems to be more likely than many of these retailers ;)

@dorianh49:

Smiles and nods his head repeatedly....haha

@snoop-blog: Nice one! Tho I am particular about my socks (only like the ankle length athletic type). I think its a great present for kids though. Maybe try slippers for the adults?

@yourbffjill: In the same vein, I can usually find something for less during a pre-holiday sale. Its no coincidence that gift card heavy stores like bath and body works and best buy hold *zero* sales after the holiday season.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: I LOVED getting cash as a kid, I think its one of those forgotten joys around the holiday season for kids. Unless your family is like mine where we give kids cash. Parents buy kids so much crap they don't even know what to play with first so ultimately half the toys end up sitting in the corner and remain there the rest of the year. Usually after all the toys are tossed aside and the gift cards are spent the kid still has the cash too or is saving it for something special etc..

My younger cousins also love getting cash, although they are old enough to appreciate the value of it and are just coming out of the buy me every toy on the shelf stage. So its kind of a timeless tradition in my family, I am sure getting money for Christmas will never get old.

@Neecy:I am notoriously hard to shop for, for the same reasons. I asked everybody for Amazon.com gift cards this year.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: It's especially nice when the bills are new and crisp.

we found some nice enclosing cards to put cash in, too, like "santa dollars" on the outside with some little tabs to hold the loot.

I made the kids give them back so I could re-use them. Once they stripped out the cash they were happy to return them.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: I've really never heard of a store-branded gift card reducing in value, except if you buy one of those pre-paid Amex or Visa cards and I am not sure of the purpose of those since they cost money to buy and your essentially giving money anyways. I live in NY state so we may have gift card laws that prevent a card from reducing in value, laws do vary by state.

The one thing they do is make you spend more at the store, you will almost always spend a dollar or 2 more than the amount of the gift card, if your just trying to buy something. Most people spend a lot more than that. Its really hard to spend EXACTLY 25$ at a store. Retailers love this because they have almost always secured a few dollars extra at least on every gift card they sell, they get people into the store and spending even more that way.

The only thing I would say is safe is to give a gift card to a grocery store, mostly everyone is in need of food at some point and I think the tendency to overspend with these is less as you would just be using it to pay the weekly grocery bill.

@Outrun1986: I remember about 10 yrs ago TRU had "Geoffrey Dollars" that were their form of gift cards at the time. Those at least didn't require scanning.

Retailers must be freaking out that in 2009 they won't get to hold onto their billions of dollars in ill-gotten, unredeemed giftcard money.

@APFPilot: Gift cards do not equate to interest free loans for businesses. They can't even book the sales profits until you spend the gift card. This is due to the way receivables are accounted for, something to do with exchanging a good or service and gift cards not counting

Gift card purchases are effectively translating your dollars in to a proprietary currency that can only be spent at one vendor, nothing more. No free loans for the company, no inflated sales numbers, just the 'attachment' and the return trips you'll make to use the GC, and the small probability that you'll lose it. Then, in 2 years or so, that turns into pure profit.

I hate gift cards I usually sell them for a couple bucks less than they are worth. Especially hate it when its a store I never go to like blockbuster. I have netflix, ended up buying 50 dollars worth of overpriced movies.
I miss the days when they were certifcates and you could buy a pack of gum and get your money back.

@snoop-blog: I am pretty particular about this too, I prefer thinner socks because thick ones are too bulky and make shoes feel tight. I never have a problem with cold feet. Probably a better idea for a kids gift, maybe buy a couple sizes for those quickly growing feet so parents don't have to purchase them when they are outgrown.

I wont use gift cards until they work like gift certificates do in California.

You can walk in to a store and cash the gift certificates in.

@lowercase: I would bet that there is research to show that people shop less critically with gift cards, meaning a higher probability of buying higher margin items and items not on sale, due to some psychological affect of the GC being an abstraction of money. If you have $50, that can be a meal, or rent money, or car payment, resulting in many competing forms of utility. But a $50 GC, has restricted value, and different behaviors associated with it.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: In California, and some other places, there are recent laws that gift cards below a certain value can be redeemed for cash. In California, its CA SB 250:

"This bill would allow any gift certificate with a cash value of less than $10 to be redeemed in cash..."

@startertan: Im not chinese, but live in hawaii (heavy asian influence) and have relatives that do this. I think its awesome, im not sure why so many people think cash gifts are bad.

It's not so much that I'm afraid to buy gift cards as I'd rather just give cash at that point and leave the option of how it's spent up to the recipient.

Plus, the last time I checked cash doesn't expire or require you to buy 2x it's worth to use it.

Scared... not really, I've only ever bought one gift card (of sorts) and it was a 6 month subscription for World of Warcraft for a friends birthday because he didn't have a credit card.

@Marshfield: Since it's for family, I go with individual cards that I pick out. I have enough problem picking those out, so actual gifts are seizure inducing. My aunt gave me one one year where when you open it, Santa hands you the bill/check, and that was awesome, but a little too ol' timey looking for me. I have to visit my bank morrow to cash a check and am going to ask for some new bills. I need them to ensure the folds are correct!

@Outrun1986: Every year, my Nan would have a little plastic bank where she would walk by and put a dollar in it, some change, etc.. By my Brithday(June) and Christmas(Dec), it was packed full of fundage, and I KNOW she was thinking of me when she put the money in there.

@snoop-blog: I'm a length and color miser when it comes to socks. Mid calf and solid colors, as well as 90%> cotton. I actually mark all the socks from each bag with a different mark, or slightly dye them, so it's easier to sort them, tell them apart. I'm very OCD for a slob. :)

@TinkishDelight: I don't know. If you're going to wait 12 months (a year) to use your gift card, you deserve to have $1.95 taken away every month after that.

@ludwigk: It depends on the company and their accounting practices. A sold giftcard is a liability for the company, not an asset, becasue they still owe someone something. But it does give them cash on hand, so it is essentially a loan, and not only is it interest free, they make money on the loan, becasue the value of what they give back is less than what they took. (since they are selling the item for profit)

Also, the 2 years rule is not valid everywhere. In hawaii, giftcards cannot expire. The wark around for that however is to charge a monthly or annual fee to maitian the card after 2 years, eventually the balance is 0 and its essentially invalid.

@dorianh49: Score: 4 - Funny

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: I'd love it if the Federal Reserve went out of business.

:)

@vvvinny: What does "financially secure" mean?

I see no point buying gift cards unless they're worth more than the money I pay for them.

For example: if $20 purchased a $25 gift-card, I'd probably get them more often.