totally agree with you. And some visa gift cards charge you monthly fee after activating them!! I had few cards that I forgot to use, and their value became $0 after a year. And I am also concerned about the environmental damage caused by millions of plastic gift cards.. all the way from sourcing, manufacturing, transporting and disposing them. And to certain extent, it forces over-consumption behavior. I got 2 kids, and always got too many BabysRus/ToysRus gift cards. I am either forced to use them or re-gift/exchange them with others. In the end, the cards always get used by either myself or the others. If unavoidable, then you can at least print/send an e-gift card.
If it's plain cash, I can just deposit them without buying anything. For these reasons, I always wrap cash in an envelope with a personal hand-written note. Have been gifting this way to teachers, postmen, home-cleaners and no one has complained so far. When my friends/colleagues try to gift for any occasion, I always encourage them to gift cash.
> to certain extent, it forces over-consumption behavior
isn't gift giving itself over-consumption? at least among peers, the other person would have just gotten the item themselves if they actually needed it.
> When my friends/colleagues try to gift for any occasion, I always encourage them to gift cash.
presumably you exchange gifts with these people on some sort of regular basis. if so, isn't this just a net zero transfer? may as well just not give gifts.
I could remember wrong but I don't think prepaid cards are allowed to charge fees like that anymore. It's why the up front cost of a prepaid Visa loaded with $50 is now more than $50, when it didn't used to be
If it's plain cash, I can just deposit them without buying anything. For these reasons, I always wrap cash in an envelope with a personal hand-written note. Have been gifting this way to teachers, postmen, home-cleaners and no one has complained so far. When my friends/colleagues try to gift for any occasion, I always encourage them to gift cash.