An Argument Against Gift Cards

I know I said that gift cards are the perfect gift, but I felt I had to offer a counter-argument to the whole gift card suggestion. It seems that there are some very persuasive arguments against gift cards that may sway you toward giving cold, hard, cash for the holidays.

If you’re wondering why I may be waffling on the idea of giving gift cards, check out Seth Godin’s article, The $8 billion story/scam. After reading it, I’m a little more wary of giving the gift of store-affiliated plastic.

I’ve always liked getting gift cards to places that I normally shop at, but I can remember a few gift cards/gift certificates that never got used because they were either to stores that didn’t have any nearby (within 50 miles) locations, to restaurants I hated, or to stores I never shop at. Seth covers these and adds a few more to the list of reasons to not use gift cards this holiday.

I love this excerpt:

If I were a creative non-profit, I’d start marketing alternative gift cards. They would consist of PDF files you could print out and hand over to people when you give them cash. It could say, “Merry Christmas. Here’s your present, go spend it on what you really want. AND, just to make sure we’re in the right holiday spirit, I made a donation in your name to Aworthycause.”

He’s right—it does sound a little more like what we should be celebrating this season.

Posted on 5 Dec 2007 by Tina V.