Be careful of giving 'gift cards' this year . . .

With the economy tanking and all the dire warnings about pre Christmas holiday sales sucking, many of us out here are considering the 'gift card' approach so those upon which we choose to bestow gifts this year can get the biggest bang for their buck after the holiday season is over and retailers clamour for any spare change that may be left over from the usual holiday spend-a-thon.

Two words of advice . . . be careful . . .

On Wall Street, lawmakers are talking about how "toxic debt" threatens banks and lending. Out on Main Street, shoppers better start thinking about "toxic" gift cards from companies that could go bankrupt. They won't be worth the plastic they are printed on.

reply to post by GoalPoster

get a walmart gift card. they are not going ANYWHERE i promise, walmart will be the only store available someday, and Taco Bell will be the only restaurant.
but yes, don't buy plastic from some other, less stable companies. good wanrning, thanks for the advice, i never considered this before.

Add Mcdonalds to the safe list,people will want there cheesburgers when the SHTF.
gift card?

[edit on 10-11-2008 by all2human]

This is an excellent point.
If holiday spending is a bust this year, I reckon there's a real good chance we'll see more retail bankruptcies after the New Year. More than a few big stores are barely holding on as it is and will need to rely on Xmas to stay afloat. If a retailer goes Tango-Uniform, any gift certificates they issued are at a real good risk of being nonredeemable.

reply to post by Enigma Publius


I think Walmart is one of the reasons that the economy doesn't do so well. The last thing we need is for everyone to spend at a store that uses child labor and imports cheap products from China.

reasons to not give gift cards:
they expire
if they are lost the money is gone
stores charge a fee if used not used in a certain amount of time
they are an interest free loan to the store

27% of people a year who receive gift cards don't use them. stores make 8 billion easy dollars a year on unused or lost gift cards.


The trick is to not spend a lot of money on people. But one good simple present, instead of a bunch of cheap ones. Or do what I do and make stuff.

The greatest option of all? offer to donate to a charity of that persons choice. Or buy a tree in siberia or something.

do not do the star registries!!!! They are a scam.

Besides Wal mart moves in to a new area starts out with stupidly low prices forces mom and pop stores out, then sets there prices at what the want ...help the little guy buy wal mart

reply to post by deadcatsrule


thanks for saying that. It reminds me that I wanted to say that the best thing to do right now is buy a gift from the mom and pop places.
I support them every chance I get, even if it means paying more.

Lots of those gift cards have hidden fees and expiration dates. They also make it harder to use it. What's a kid gonna do with a card his grandma gives him for Anne Taylors ?
What ever happened to giving a GIFT? It means I am thinking of you and I'd like to give you something. Not, here's some plastic, leave me alone till your birthday.

get a walmart gift card. they are not going ANYWHERE i promise, walmart will be the only store available someday, and Taco Bell will be the only restaurant.

reply to post by Enigma Publius


Indeed. Salt, meats and real sex will soon be illegal. We can then go underground. Long live Dennis Leary!!!

If you are going to give a gift card I would suggest doing one of the prepaid Visa's or MasterCards so that they can be used anywhere.

Jemison

Ive never really understand why people do gift cards anyway.....

You take money that is good ANYWHERE, and turn into something that is good at ONE STORE.

DANG i just bought everyone in my family circuit city gift cards! haha not really.

Excellent point which I never thought of. I have flagged this thread and hope to see others do the same. We need to get the folks who may not enter the Global Meltdown forum this information. It also would be a great thing to get the BTS posters this info as well, as many of them are probably among the gift card buying crowd.

I don't you gift cards at all, but then again in nation that revolts on debt that is the perfect gift.

And for walmart than to then and their cheap Chinese goods small towns are losing their small business, they are nothing but a big corporate monopoly.

I have stopped buying in Wal-mart for a long time now.

And not to offend anybody that likes to buy in walmart but the stores here in the south are dirty and nasty.

You know the nicest gift I got last year was a small piece of pottery, a bowl, from a local artist. It could of cost five bucks but it meant a lot to me because it was local, like my friends know I support. And it was my favorite color. it was well thought out.


My friends always appreciate the handmade stuff that I make them. When my grandfather died of parkinsons last year, I made a donation to them for my grandmother.

I really think that charities, especially small ones, are the way to go.

reply to post by nixie_nox


yea, well that is easy enough to say. where i live "town" is 30 minutes away. unfortunately i would spend WAY more money on gas if i also had to run around to 4 or 5 different stores once i got to town instead of going to walmart. i feel bad for those with small busnisses, but someone who has no money to spare such as myself doesn't have the ability to shop at their stores. if i had more money and time, yes i would spend my dollar at smaller more personal establishments, but i just can't do that at this time.

Give every one a survival pack to help them prepare for the economic crisis

But you are right on gift cards, they are a waste of money and you never know if you are able to cash them in. Next to that I do feel they are inpersonal and I have never given a gift card in my life (I'd really have to dislike a person to give them something like that)

Very timely and good thread.

It makes me wonder about ordering gifts from companies on the internet. That might not be wise either.

Merry Christmas.

reply to post by nixie_nox


I bought a tree in Siberia, but after a dispute with Russian authorities as to whether or not I had the legal rights to any squirrels that may reside in said tree. They confiscated it, and the squirrels, and sold it at premium to the next American looking to sell Siberian Trees as a Christmas present.

The did offer to let me rent a small pine in the Urals but it just wasn't the same....