Throwback tech: The Gift Card

Okay I admit that todays throwback tech subject is not quite as throwback as most of my subjects, however I felt that this was a wonderful object for discussion given the season.  I learned recently that gift returns are down all across the united states and it is a trend that is continuing.  Why?  Because more and more people are giving out gift cards as presents.  What ever happened to the old fashioned idea of putting some thought into the gift you were getting a person?  Or the minutes of preparation as you removed the price tag so they didn’t know how cheap you were? Also  what are all themakers of wrapping paper supposed to do if everyone starts giving out giftcards.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I think gift cards are a great idea when used wisely, such as with the pain in the butt in law who never seems to be happy with the gift you get them.  Or for the friend who seems to change their mind all the time. However what really drives me insane is getting a gift card instead of plain old use it anywhere cash.  Why can’t people just give cash if they don’t want to buy me a present?  Do they want me to buy something from a particualr store?  Also its damn near impossilbe to use the whole thing, so X-Mart gets to keep a portion of my “gift” which really sucks, or at best I have to spend some of my own money (both of which are the idea).  So why on earth do people give these things out instead of cash?

I can tell you.  Marketing. Yep it all comes down to marketing.  See most people were brought up with the idea that you don’t give cash to people for a gift because it shows a lack of thought.  So Mix in a commercial and bang now  you have a quilt free way to buy a person a gift card without really having to think about them.  Well why the heck is this any different?  Can anyone explain this to me?  Please!  So please if you are getting me a present this year and don’t know what to get me, simply give me some money, I don’t want a gift card.