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Why on gods green earth do people buy gift cards? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 weeks ago by weeeeum@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Utterly stupid little things, its money that is less useful in EVERY situation and expires! Even at the store where you can use it, what do you do with the money that's leftover but too little to spend? Especially at expensive places, you could very well end up with 10-20$ OF YOUR OWN MONEY, that you can't even use!

I was given a dunkin giftcard for volunteering at a repair cafe. First of all I'm on a diet but secondly I stuffed it in my wallet so quickly I completely forgot about it. The day I remember and go through the trouble of attending such a wretched establishment I was told it expired after I finished giving my order! After such bother to try to use this cursed thing I refuse to return fruitless from my endeavors so I paid with my own cash.

It is now, sulking into my hashbrowns and Boston cream do I realize I am now poorer, fatter and fucking miserable. FUCK gift cards.

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[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

There's a certain something to giving people cash versus a gift card.

For one, cash today is almost an inconvenience, a lot of places don't accept cash.

The other element to it is that gift cards need to be used for specific things, while cash is often seen as something to just toss in a bank account and use for necessities or forget about. If the goal of the gift-giver is for the recipient to treat themselves to something, a gift card helps set some limits. Or if the goal is to get something related to someone's hobby but you don't know enough about what to get them, the gift card is an option.

I don't hate getting cash as a gift, but I am going to be honest that it is not going to get spent on anything nice. It's going to rent and groceries and whatever is left gets tossed into savings.

I'm not much of a gift card giver, but there have been a few times where I gave Steam gift cards as a gift for friends who are into games but I don't know exactly what they want.

[–] bassomitron@lemmy.world 8 points 4 weeks ago

I have rarely encountered places that don't accept cash. The only places I've seen signs that state no cash are smaller businesses and/or street merchants/vendors.

Regardless, I agree with the spirit of your comment. I rarely use cash anymore simply because carrying it around is inconvenient. You have to know ahead of time exactly how much something is going to cost and then when you get coins back, that's doubly more inconvenient/annoying.

Ultimately, OP's post is a little melodramatic. Gift cards are meant to be more personal, although in the specific context they wrote, it does feel a bit half-hearted ("Thanks for helping, here's a random gift card I found in my wallet that I never used!").