Greenbacks, not Gift Cards

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Technology Thursday

Gift cards. The holiday gift-giving frenzy is coming upon us. I've trimmed my list of 'people to buy for' a lot over the years, but it's too easy to add people to it. And then there are obligatory service tips that are expected this time of year. Seriously, I know this lament comes from a place of privilege, but the list of people I need to give an extra tip to, or a cash gift of some sort, who are not members of my family (blood or chosen) seems to grow a bit every year. Gift cards seem like a great solution to this problem.

But they're not!

I recently came across a blog post by Barry Ritholtz, an economic journalist, from last year where he says:

Nothing says “I am both thoughtless and inconveniencing” like a gift card. They let the recipient know that you couldn’t be bothered actually picking out a present, so here is a cash equivalent — only so much less convenient than the crisp paper kind of cash. And, you can only spend it in one place.

How much do gift cards suck? Each year, $5 billion in gift cards go unclaimed, forgotten about or lost. That’s how much people value them — they throw away $5 effen billion dollars worth every year!

And, it's true. I have been given gift cards, even to places I occasionally frequent, and forgotten about them, not used them, let them expire. All because I'm busy and just cannot seem to put 'use giftcard' into my ToDo lists in an effective way. Moreover, I've bought gift cards for people in the past, and actually had one sitting in a drawer languishing (and losing value) because I never ran into the person I wanted to give it to when I had it, and then time passed, the holidays were over, and there it sat!

Spouse and I were just talking the other day about what we're going to give our son's teachers for the holidays. And first we thought about gift cards. We won't get them cutesy apple-themed trinkets, because everything I've read suggests that teachers have enough of that sort of thing. We decided to just give them cash along with a mini-photobook of our kid. And we'll do cash, instead of gift cards, heeding Ritholz's suggesetion:

4) Best of all: Just give them the damned cash. Hey, its gonna be worthless in a few years anyway — you might as well start giving it away now, while it still has some value!

Comments

[Susan Towner]

Foldin' Money has an even better idea than just plain old cash! Turn your cash into a great gift that is both thoughtful and creative. These cool kits are so easy to do and I also decorate mine with stickers, jewels (the stick on kind) ribbons, whatever I have around! Once they take off the decorations, they can unfold the money and spend it right away! And I send them across the country in cards!! Go to thier website and have a look. www.foldinmoney.com

[Karen]

I was always opposed to cash as a gift until my oldest son had his bar mitzvah. He received a lot of gift cards to bookstores, a typical gift, but the problem was that he is not a reader and they were hard to put to good use. The cash he received was banked, and he has since been able to use it to purchase both an iPhone and an iMac. The rest will be saved for travel. Our friends were very generous, and he was happy to see his bank account grow.

But in terms of smaller, more everyday (or every year) kinds of gifts, I still find case more problematic than gift cards. I think an even better solution, at least for family-style gifts (maybe not so much the folks you have to tip) is donations to charities in names of the recipients. We have a "tzedakah" (charity) night every year as part of Chanukah celebration and my kids know that on that night, they don't get anything. This year, we discussed where we wanted to give our money, and each kid decided how much to give to the charity of their choice. It was really fun to have the conversation around the table, to see where our interests and our hearts all lie, and even my 9 year old took at $10 bill out of his wallet (saved up from allowance) to contribute.

As for teachers, I have long had a strict policy that I only give gifts at the end of the year. If we get around to baking cookies in December, then we give those as well, but I just can't afford two rounds of teacher presents (for public school, religious school AND Hebrew school as well as music teachers and coaches) and bus driver presents for three kids each year.

Finally, in terms of the gift card quandary, it is true that you have to be organized in order to make best use of gift cards. But believe me, when my kids receive gift cards for birthdays or chanukah (as they do from both sets of grandparents, who live far away and long ago gave up trying to remember each kids' special interests in any given year) they well remember they have them and hock you until you take them to the store to use them (or use them online)! They definitely get used quickly enough to avoid expiration dates.