Asklemmy

My dad gave me an Apple gift card of something like 200$ last year.

I don't buy Apple product. I would have taken the money but eh

There are a few legitimate uses for gift cards.

1. You can get extra rewards by buying them and using them vs directly buying. Lots of stores give extra fuel or reward points for buying cards, or you could have better cash back rewards at store A and shift spending to there.
2. It's a way to give kids money in a more controlled way than a credit or debit card.
3. It allows someone without a Bank or credit card access a way to turn cash into digital currency.

IIRC they can't legally expire in Canada, at least.

If you're giving a gift, it's more personal than cash because it displays a knowledge of what they like, but has some of the same flexibility.

Also, the codes are used as a non-physical way to transfer money sometimes. That's not really an intended use unless it's a devoted prepaid credit card, though.

Sometimes people like it when others make choices for them.

I agree, but I've gotten less annoyed by it over the years. When I was young it really didn't make sense to me. Money can do literally the same and is way more versatile.

However, now that I'm trying to survive this adulting thing it does start to make more sense, even if I still don't like it. If someone gives me money, it ends up on the big pile of money that's constantly flowing around. Give me 20 euros and it just adds 20 to the number in my bank account, which will eventually end up being used on groceries, bills, mortgage, etc. if you give someone money as a present you don't want this. You don't know what to give the other person ans you want them to choose something nice for themselves. But buying them part of their groceries or a part of their bills isn't exactly a fun gift. You want to "force" them to buy something nice, something that they want to spend money on instead of need to spend money on. A gift card does this.

Then again, giving me physical money would also do this. Or asking me to say when I bought something nice with it. When people gift me money I tend to tell them where it went and that works way better than gift cards imo.

Good establishments don't have their gift cards expire.

Gift cards are great if the recipient often shops at a given store, but the giver isn't sure what they want.

Let's say I've got a friend who loves board games. I don't want to get them a board game, because A. They might already have it, or B. Someone else might get them the same one. A gift card to a game store would be the perfect gift for them.

I think the problem in your case was that a Dunkin gift card wasn't a great gift for you specifically, but the giver was trying, so don't be too hard on them.

only time I ever bought gift cards was when I worked at restaurant. each Christmas theyd give us employees 20% off gift cards. id buy a bunch of them (usually like 500$ worth). then when a customer paid in cash, I'd pay with my gift card, and pocket the change. I always told the customer what I was doing and made sure it was ok with them, it was a chain so most people were just kinda thrilled they could help me beat the system.

I think it’s because people think giving pure cash is thoughtless and basic. If you give a gift card for that persons favorite restaurant, then it feels more personable.

Obviously having cash is better for flexibility but people don’t care sometimes

Big disagree.

1. It is unlawful for a gift card to expire in the US. (Ask Simon Malls how badly they got fucked for this.)

2. There are tons of expensive restaurants my partner and I are simply not going to go to unless we're able to knock $100 of the bill.

3. Retired people are on a budget. Gift cards help them with that.

4. Often times people have niche hobbies wherein buying a present might have good intentions. but it'll be in vain. I'm a beer snob. Do not get me beer as a gift, ever. Gladly take a gift card to a good brewery. I'm a musician -- don't buy me gear. I work and tinker with networking. Don't buy me hardware. Give me gift cards.

They are low effort and high reward. They are excellent gifts, both to give and receive.

I got a Dunkin Donuts card a few years ago too. The nearest location to me is about 600 miles away. Awesome.

I fully agree. My christmas bonus at work is in one of those visa gift cards and I wish they'd just direct deposit it (but I'm sure my boss gets some kind of deal from visa so they're cheaper or something due to his business acct, that has to be why.)

That said though, if you have $20 left over but need like $30 for the purchase, you tell the cashier "hey I have $20 on this I want to use up, then I have cash/card for the remainder." They'll let you.

For reciprocal holidays like Christmas, giving cash maybe gets a little too close to exposing the pointlessness. I give you cash, then you give me cash, what are we doing here? And what if I gave you less than you gave me?

A gift card does indicate I thought a little bit about what the recipient might like, even if I know it would be impractical for me to make a choice on the recipient's behalf, or that my gift wouldn't be sufficient to cover a typical purchase in whole. (Thinking like gaming systems, expensive handbags etc)

All that said, I generally agree, I'm not crazy about gift cards.

We have family on otherside of country, sending cash via mail is risky, so we sometimes default to a gift card for something in their local area.

Typically only promotional/giveaway gift cards expire here in Canada.

Where I live it's illegal to have them expire. They can:

• Provide a spending limit for a vice
• frees the user of the need to spend it responsibly
• a safer way to spend money online and an alternative to a credit card.

I don't mind getting a steam gift card or an lcbo (liquor store) card, I know what liquor and games I like more than the people gifting. An Amazon gift card is much more annoying because it's an everything store, it's money that has to be used unethically. A costco giftcard is a nice hack to allow you to shop at the store without a membership, I used them like that until I reached a point where the membership paid for itself. I think they have a place, I also think they are often abused and should be regulated more than they currently are where I live. If they have an expiry they are a scam.

Personally, I'm terrible about actually spending money on myself. Mostly because right now money is pretty tight as a single income household. A giftcard forces me to spend money in a more careless manner than I otherwise would. A giftcard encourages me to splurge and order a thing on Amazon or buy a super sugary treat or something else that can bring me joy. If I'm given cash I just use that to smooth over the daily grind, so giftcards absolutely hit different

Because someone conviced people that giving money as a present is a no no, but a "gift card" isn't, I'd rather you give me $20 cash over a $30 gift card for one specific set of stores that you'd never goto.

It's the middle thing between not gifting something specific but also no just giving money. Sometimes you are not sure what exactly a person wants, but giving money directly might feel too unpersonal? Other than that, i completely agree with you that it sucks. Stores must love them though, they already have the money without having to provide a service / product and then many people will forget, the gift cards expire etc. I'm of the opinion that the cards shouldn't expire, or at least have a very high expiration date (like minimum 10 years).

Volunteering?

There's a good chance got them because dunkin donated them or because the cafe didn't want to give cash for fear it could be construed as pay.

The point of gift cards is that they're: a. Not money (when using money might have some sort of disadvantage for either side). b. Have restrictions that the person who gave it to you might want to impose. c. Are usually cheaper than paying money directly to the vendor.

And frankly, no one forced you to try and use them. They were given as a gesture of appreciation, and you could have given them to someone who would have been happy to have them, or just politely refuse to accept them. Also, not checking the expiration date is on you.

I give giftcards to the bookstore to my niece and nephew because if I gave them straight cash they'd blow it on trinkets and junk they'd forget about in minutes.

My mom used to save gift cards and use them for "special things", to get something she really wanted but was a splurge for her. When she died, she had probably like $800-900 in gift cards waiting to be spent, and they'd lost like a third of their value. They were part of my mom's estate, so they went to my sister (the executrix). When my sister died, I found those exact same gift cards, still unspent, only this time they'd lost all their value. Plus she has a bunch of gift cards of her own that she'd been saving that had lost a bunch of value as well.

I know I'm fortunate that I don't need to scrape money, and that not everyone can afford to do this. But after losing out on a bunch of money, this is what I do: when someone gives me a gift card, I spend it immediately and enthusiastically tell the giver what I got - or, in some cases, supposedly got: occasionally I'll use the card to buy a gift for someone else, or I'll just buy gas or groceries. But I use it on something I want or need, even if it's just in the vaguest way. That avoids losing the value of the money, which I absolutely hate.

But I take the birthday or holiday or thank-you or thinking-of-you card that the gift card came in, and I'll tuck in the same amount of cash as was on the gift card. I have a little stash of cards in my desk (and my heir knows to check those cards), all with some amount of money in them. And when I'm feeling down, or really need a treat, or just need to remember that I'm loved, I go pull out the cards and read through some of them. And if I'm still feeling bad, I may pull out some money from the card and go buy myself something - an ice cream or a nice dinner or a pair of socks - it doesn't matter. To me, it's that person giving me a giant hug on a day that I really need it, whether that person is even still around - to me, that's an immensely valuable gift, and something that I always treasure.

Also, to keep each gift giving, I usually sneak back a couple weeks later and put the same amount of money back into the envelope: just because I spent that specific money doesn't mean my mom or grandma loved me any less, and sometimes I need to be reminded of that.

I need them to pay the IRS so they won't arrest me for a mistake on my taxes.

I like gift cards. A lot of the stuff I want to buy I know what I want but family would not. So they buy a gift cards to the place I want to buy stuff, I buy the correct stuff, and show off what I got. So they give me like Penzeys gift cards, and I get the cinnamon I need! Or other spices.

I buy gift cards for the discounts. Usually you can get a gift card from anywhere between 3% and 20% off. Over the last 5 years, this has saved me $1000s on house renovations alone.