Cranky Geeks & Holiday Gift Cards — Take a Pill Please!
On the Holiday edition of the the Cranky Geeks video podcast (December 21, 2006), the assembled cranks spent five or ten minutes trashing the ubiquitous retail store Gift Card as a legitimate seasonal gift. Among other things, the cranks howled about gift cards being accidentally thrown out among mounds of wrapping paper, and retailers profiting from unused portions of gift card balances. The assemblage even referred to gift card givers as boneheads and inconsiderate laggards.
I've got a couple of salvos to lob back at John C. Dvorak et al. First and foremost, I like the effort involved in finding out someone's favorite store in order to figure out which gift card to purchase. I also enjoy the effort involved in going to the store itself to purchase individual gift cards.
Second, I don't believe for a split second that any recipient of a gift card is too stupid to deal with the gift. At the same time as people have to be careful not to throw out the small gift card envelope with a pile of wrapping paper, they also have to be careful not to knock the lovely crystal wine glass set off the side table during a slightly inebriated sweep of the hand. We can be careless about a lot of things. Once a gift is given, it's none of my business how it's used or lost or broken or damaged or whatever.
Dvorak and company need to give their collective head a good shake. I like receiving gift cards and I like giving them. Time and effort is needed to choose the right one in order to provide a gift that opens up an entire store to the recipient. Thoughtful, individual product gifts are wonderful too, but I like the broadness of a gift card. A couple of years ago I kept one in my wallet for six months, waiting for a particular item to go on sale. When it did, I swooped in and picked it up using the gift card. If the retailer had the cash paid for the card for the entire six months it took me to finally use it, so what?
Whatever you give or receive this season, have a happy, healthy holiday.
I've got a couple of salvos to lob back at John C. Dvorak et al. First and foremost, I like the effort involved in finding out someone's favorite store in order to figure out which gift card to purchase. I also enjoy the effort involved in going to the store itself to purchase individual gift cards.
Second, I don't believe for a split second that any recipient of a gift card is too stupid to deal with the gift. At the same time as people have to be careful not to throw out the small gift card envelope with a pile of wrapping paper, they also have to be careful not to knock the lovely crystal wine glass set off the side table during a slightly inebriated sweep of the hand. We can be careless about a lot of things. Once a gift is given, it's none of my business how it's used or lost or broken or damaged or whatever.
Dvorak and company need to give their collective head a good shake. I like receiving gift cards and I like giving them. Time and effort is needed to choose the right one in order to provide a gift that opens up an entire store to the recipient. Thoughtful, individual product gifts are wonderful too, but I like the broadness of a gift card. A couple of years ago I kept one in my wallet for six months, waiting for a particular item to go on sale. When it did, I swooped in and picked it up using the gift card. If the retailer had the cash paid for the card for the entire six months it took me to finally use it, so what?
Whatever you give or receive this season, have a happy, healthy holiday.
posted by Howard Carson, Managing Editor @ 2:04 PM
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