Lazy friggin consumers

[Addled Platypus]

do you take the time to shop fpr gifts

or you do the "gift card" thing


do you like recieving them ?

[BeBMan]

Hate getting them. Hate giving them. Gifts are for kids, and when done by adults it's never love, but only a form of economic relation "I give you x and expect y in return". The cards are even worse /cynic

[Deity Dude]

Originally posted by BeBro
Hate getting them. Hate giving them. Gifts are for kids, and when done by adults it's never love, but only a form of economic relation "I give you x and expect y in return". The cards are even worse /cynic

I totally disagree. Let's say the person you want to get a gift for desperately wants something related to a hobby or past time you know nothing about. It is much better to get them a gift card to a store specializing in that hobby than it is to attempt to buy them something "they need" which will almost always end up being either returned or unused.

Another example is a woman who wants clothes or perfume. I think it is much more appropriate to get them a gift card to a high end store specializing in those sorts of things than it is to attempt to guess her tastes or even worse her clothing size. Get that one wrong and you can ruin the entire holiday season.

[Tuberski]

A co-worker told me this story yesterday.

A friend of his wife was having a birthday party. The friend is fairly well off, my co-worker isn't in any way rich. they thought about what to get their friend and finally decided they would get her a $25 Starbuck's gift certificate. They think they've nailed it since the friend is a coffee drinker.

By the end of the birthday party the friend has over $400 in Starbuck's gift certificates......

ACK!

[Thoth]

$400 worth of sh1tty coffee?
They would have done better to just go out and buy some good quality coffee beans for her.


Gift cards are a quick way to say "I felt I had to get you something, but couldn't be arsed to put any thought into it"

[Elok]

I try not to give gift cards, since they're basically money with an expiration date that can only be spent in one location. I'd rather just give cash.

[Provost Harrison]

I think gift exchange is a stupid idea...buy your own crap, at least you get what you want

[BeBMan]

[Krill]

Money is better to give imo

[chequita guevara]

At the last Christmas gift exchange we had at work, almost everyone gave gift cards, so basically everyone just passed a $20 bill around.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Elok
I try not to give gift cards, since they're basically money with an expiration date that can only be spent in one location. I'd rather just give cash.

QFT! That's how I feel. The only way I'd ever give one is if the company in question had a deal tied to the card- % off only with gift card or some such.

You used to be able to exchange GCs for cash also, can't do that anymore. The companies seem to think that since they have the money already, they don't owe you anything.

If you want someone to feel like you put some effort into 'getting something', write a damn check instead. The effort is almost the same.

[rah]

Originally posted by Comrade Snuggles
At the last Christmas gift exchange we had at work, almost everyone gave gift cards, so basically everyone just passed a $20 bill around.

we've done something similar with my in-laws at Christmas but we did it as one of those picking games and everyone bought the cards from obscure places so it actually took some thought and was much more interesting. It's amazing some of the places that offer gift cards. IT's always fun to watch the last person in sequence decide out of all the cards, which one they want. Especially if people have really gone obscure.

The only other time I'll cheeze out and buy a gift card is if its a simple stocking stuffer.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Comrade Snuggles
At the last Christmas gift exchange we had at work, almost everyone gave gift cards, so basically everyone just passed a $20 bill around.

That's what happens with me and my sister. She gives me money, I give her money. We just end up with slightly different notes. Pointless

And che, you actually did it How could you? This is the worst idea I have seen since I changed my name to AI!

[chequita guevara]

I grew tired of silly stuff I post here showing up in other fora in attacks on my politics.

[chequita guevara]

I do tend to buy gift cards for the family these days, but for two reasons. One, I never know what to get my stepmonster. Two, all of those gifts are a pain in the ass to take on the plane, especially with security these days. For the same reason, I prefer gift cards from family.