Comments on Sleepless in the Seattle Metro Area: Gift cards

Companies love gift cards, because they have disco...

2010-01-18T10:01:00.917-08:00

Companies love gift cards, because they have discovered (or at least the place I used to work did) that on average - if a customer came in with a $100 gift card, they would end up buying $150 worth of stuff.

Also, in some states - just to see what your balance is on one of them costs a certain amount of money (that they take off the card) and if you didn't use it over a certain amount of time - that they would slowly decrees the value of the card. Luckily - Washington State has laws that say they can't do that. A $100 gift card is a $100 gift card. It doesn't matter how long they sit on it - you still have to honor it. I don't know if the promotional ones are treated the same way - since it isn't you paying for it.

Of course, if you need help using some gift cards (especially at restaurants, I can help :)

I personally feel that giftcards suck hard. They a...

2010-01-17T15:11:48.149-08:00

I personally feel that giftcards suck hard. They are a shitty gift that says someone doesn't care. Give me cash or nothing - both would be better gifts.

That said, you neglect to consider the administrative costs/overhead that a business must incur to have an electronic giftcard program. For your Targets, Best Buys, etc. this is minimal; for a small restaurant, it can be significant.

I have heard our customers pay around 50 cents for each blank gift card (the ones with magnetic stripes printed with their logo on the front). They pay our company several hundred dollars for the electronic giftcard add-on. They also pay a monthly service fee to a company who tracks each card's balance and handles such transactions. Restaurants can skip that last charge if they only have a single location.