Gift Card

I recently had a discussion with a friend about Christmas shopping. Since then the concept of gift cards has been stewing in the back of my mind, and I now have some working thoughts to explain the nagging distaste I have always had for gift cards. I hope you don’t mind if I think out loud for a bit.

A lot of people don’t like to give cash, and rightfully so. Since most adults work and earn their own money, there’s no reason to give cash unless you think the other person needs it, in which case giving it may actually make that person feel bad. Between two adults, the exchange of cash is merely an equal (or nearly equal) exchange; there is no “gift” unless one gives more than the other. While there’s always the risk that one person will give more than another, only with money can you know for sure when it has occurred. In an unequal exchange, one giver may feel superior (or cheated) while the other may feel inferior. So much for Christmas spirit! Cash is therefore is appropriate only for those who need money because they have not yet had the opportunity to earn enough of it (i.e., children, recent high-school or college graduates, and newlyweds).

A gift card is the same as cash. Money is money, be it cash or credit. So with gift cards, too, there’s an increased risk for the bad feelings that an unequal exchange can generate. You can argue that a gift card is more thoughtful because you can show (or pretend) that you really know the other person by picking a store or service that you think they’ll like. You can’t do that with cash, it’s true, but cash also doesn’t put a burden on the recipient. Gift cards come with restrictions and obligations.

In a way, gift cards reverse the act of giving by taking a burden off of the giver (the selection of a gift) while putting a burden on the recipient (the use of the gift card). The recipient is obligated to make sure that the giver’s money is spent, sometimes at a personal cost. For store and restaurant cards, the recipient must find something they want, whether or not they really want anything. If the gift card value is insufficient to cover the entire purchase price, the recipient has to fork over their own money to purchase the thing that they might not even buy if they didn’t have a gift card to redeem. And if they don’t redeem it? The giver, if they ever find out, will almost certainly be irritated. I’ve witnessed it, I’ve done it, and it is so contrary to the spirit of giving that we should none of us ever go there.

While all these bad feelings are erupting amongst family and friends, the business world is gloating. The purchaser of the gift certificate has given money for nothing. The business hasn’t provided a product or service yet, and may never have to. If the gift card is never redeemed, they hit the jackpot. If it’s redeemed late, they can charge a fee. Even if it is redeemed on time, they still have guaranteed shoppers whose purchases are likely to exceed the gift card value. Cha-ching!

But there have to be some exceptions, right? I believe so. If you know that someone has a favorite restaurant or store, a place where they routinely spend large amounts of their own money, then a gift certificate can be an appropriate and welcomed gift. I have personal experience to back this up. I was thrilled last year to receive a gift card for a book store. In my mind, the giver had not given me money, but rather the book that I wanted. It was an appropriate gift for me because I always buy books and it was a store where I frequently shopped anyway.

The end result of this chain of thought is that I will listen to the inner voice that warns me away from gift cards this Christmas, with one notable exception. I will once again buy a book-store gift card for my brother and his family. They all like to read, but I don’t stand a chance of picking the right book for any of them. I hope the when they look at the gift card, they see the books that they hoped to find under the tree, not a cash value or an obligation.