6 months later, all three cards have expired, so all three companies get $25 of free revenue, and no one really got anything for Christmas.
Gift cards are a fucking scam
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
554 points (98.9% liked)
Memes
45581 readers
2 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
Gift cards expiring isn’t legal in Canada. We just expect you to lose them, and there is still plenty of profit in that, apparently.
They don't expire here, 3ither, but I found a 10-year-old gift card after a move and the company had switched to a new gift card system, so I had to spend an hour calling around to get my ancient gift card converted to modern store credit. It was not worth it for $20.
If you are in the US, gift cards are required to be valid for at least 5 years (federal rule) and many states have longer rules. Also some states require unspent money to be paid back to the card holder as cash. There was a thread a couple of days ago on Lemmy all about gift cards and relevant consumer protections.
I hate them.
They basically force you to go to a specific store after the holidays before the allotted time expires. What if I don't have time to go to that store? What if I don't need anything from that store? What if I don't like the store?
I'd rather they give me something useless than a gift card that is going to expire anyway.
What if I don’t have time to go to that store?
How short is the time in your gift cards that you can't find the time to use it??
Another story of Americans (or from countries following American model) getting screwed? Where am I gift cards can be used for multiple purchases.
They can here as well, but they can expire if not used for 5 years.
$75 gdp without having to do a god damn thing, and then the plastic gets tossed into a landfill.
$100-$150, they either all had to buy a card or at least one of them had to buy one for others to regift.
it’s tru deau
Of course. Then you are obligated to spend at least a little more than $25 so they aren't going to waste
Gets $25 gift card
Regifts it to friend
Friend regifts it to another friend
That friend gives it to me
Gets $25 gift card
Regifts it to friend and so forth
So yeah, we're basically keeping the economy afloat.
sorry, I'm a little slow today. how is this seemingly keeping the economy afloat?
Movement of money = economy
Gift cards are just fancy plastic money
Ergo, OP is doing ~~God's~~ the invisible hand's work.
Source: I am not an economist
Gift card?! why don't you just slit my throat?
They also borrowed the money from each other too, so each has a $25 card and a $25 debt. The debt will never be paid, and they'll acrue interest with each other. They'll all use the growing debt as a justification to cut social services.
The one area where gift cards are nice is when you for sure know that someone is going to be shopping somewhere and will use it up. My husband and I recently gained two nephews through his brother's fiancee's previous marriage. There's a local game store that the boys love, so we got them gift cards paired with an outing to the store and lunch. My brother-in-law and his fiancee just had a baby, our niece, so it's also a way to give them a little bit of a break. It wouldn't have been existing for them if it had just been cash.
What happens when you can't give up the christmas gift card no more
One of them loans you $25, then you regift it.
The velocity of money and its effect on economies is pretty neat.