Gift Cards: "Just Like Money, My Foot."
Jan. 5th, 2013 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillThe thing about gift cards is that they really ought to be sold at a serious discount (but they aren't) because a lot of them never get used and the issuer just gets to keep the giver's money. They're a giant scam. And I found out how giant yesterday, because in an effort to make sure that didn't happen to a VISA gift card, I tried to deposit it in my savings account. It's supposed to be just like money, after all.
Oh no. OHHH no. That would be too easy, so you can't do that. If you deposit it in the bank, you won't lose it, or forget about it for a year while VISA slyly deducts monthly fees, and then find it again and think you spent it and throw it away. If you deposit it in the bank, VISA doesn't get to keep the money. So you can't deposit it in the bank.
Well, at least you can use it anywhere Visa cards are accepted, right? So you can use it up and move that amount of money from your regular budget into your savings account, right? Well...sort of. My mechanic, for example, will take my credit card, but not this gift card. Which is a pity as I just had a very expensive bill.
And I still remember that year before last we were dumb enough to give someone a Visa gift card. It didn't work. Like, at all--it didn't work anywhere--the long rigamarole we went through at the register to get it validated apparently didn't work and we didn't know it--believe me, the money came out of our account just fine; that part worked normally. And this person lived a long way from us and was very busy, and by the time we found out the card was no good, we'd lost the receipt. I wish to goodness we'd just sent her a check--if that hadn't worked at least the money would have remained in our hands, and we'd have found some other way to get it to her.
On the bright side the grocery store will take this gift card so I guess it will go on groceries. But Arg. At least if it was an Amazon gift card I could immediately attach it to my account and it would be available when I wanted it.
And now I only get gift cards if someone specifically asks for them, and then I use them to buy something in the store to make sure they work before I pass them on.
Oh no. OHHH no. That would be too easy, so you can't do that. If you deposit it in the bank, you won't lose it, or forget about it for a year while VISA slyly deducts monthly fees, and then find it again and think you spent it and throw it away. If you deposit it in the bank, VISA doesn't get to keep the money. So you can't deposit it in the bank.
Well, at least you can use it anywhere Visa cards are accepted, right? So you can use it up and move that amount of money from your regular budget into your savings account, right? Well...sort of. My mechanic, for example, will take my credit card, but not this gift card. Which is a pity as I just had a very expensive bill.
And I still remember that year before last we were dumb enough to give someone a Visa gift card. It didn't work. Like, at all--it didn't work anywhere--the long rigamarole we went through at the register to get it validated apparently didn't work and we didn't know it--believe me, the money came out of our account just fine; that part worked normally. And this person lived a long way from us and was very busy, and by the time we found out the card was no good, we'd lost the receipt. I wish to goodness we'd just sent her a check--if that hadn't worked at least the money would have remained in our hands, and we'd have found some other way to get it to her.
On the bright side the grocery store will take this gift card so I guess it will go on groceries. But Arg. At least if it was an Amazon gift card I could immediately attach it to my account and it would be available when I wanted it.
And now I only get gift cards if someone specifically asks for them, and then I use them to buy something in the store to make sure they work before I pass them on.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 03:14 pm (UTC)I tend to stick to store-specific cards, the rare times I get one - they seem to have fewer problems than the "general" cards, and I yet have anyone complain about getting a gift card for, say, the local grocery store chain. B&N or Amazon tend to go over well, but I like to make sure the recipient will actually use it.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 09:55 pm (UTC)(I only received one gift card this year, to Starbucks, and I don't drink coffee or tea. But Starbucks has, like, pastries and stuff too, right? So I guess I could use it for that.)
no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-05 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-06 02:19 am (UTC)I don't know why there's such a resistance to doing that.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-06 01:52 pm (UTC)I suspect the resistance to giving money may partly be that if you can't afford to give much, you may be worried people will think you don't actually care about them--and giving something-that-is-not-money helps disguise the cost, and/or can demonstrate knowledge of the recipient and thoughtfulness that makes it plain the giver cares about the recipient even if it's clear the gift itself wasn't very expensive.
And for some reason people have decided that gift cards are enough not-like-money to fall into, or partly into, this category.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-06 03:42 pm (UTC)But a Visa gift card, even if it works perfectly well, does not in any way qualify as not-like-money enough to demonstrate consideration of the recepient's tastes. So really I don't see why it doesn't occupy exactly the same space as money on the classy-to-tacky scale.