Is This Legal?

mjm3346

arcon5 wrote: »

not to turn this into a 'cash versus gift card' debate, but gift cards do make much better gifts than cash. You may for example want to buy your partner some perfume, but rather than buying one she may not like buy her a gift card for the store. Giving cash to someone is cold and unthoughtful

just my 2 cents:)

Gift cards show a real lack of consideration, meanness and a selfish streak -You give one knowing full well the chosen store could go bust leaving the voucher worthless, you take away the recipients chance to get a better "price for cash" - you force someone to shop where you choose not where they choose and in most cases a card is included in the price.

Cash, shows you have thought about it and care that someone has the chance to get exactly what they want and where they want it from.

Cash gets spent not forgotten (back in 2008 a poll "showed that over half the adult population is sitting on an unredeemed gift voucher worth on average £51.")

arcon5

mjm3346 wrote: »

Gift cards show a real lack of consideration, meanness and a selfish streak -You give one knowing full well the chosen store could go bust leaving the voucher worthless, you take away the recipients chance to get a better "price for cash" - you force someone to shop where you choose not where they choose and in most cases a card is included in the price.

Cash, shows you have thought about it and care that someone has the chance to get exactly what they want and where they want it from.

Cash gets spent not forgotten (back in 2008 a poll "showed that over half the adult population is sitting on an unredeemed gift voucher worth on average £51.")

Even if you do prefer to receive/give cash, its a little OTT to descibe gift cards as mean and selfish.

People don't give gift cards because they want to restrict your spending on certain goods or thinking a business may go bust. They would (should?) buy one for a store they know you shop at and/or will like.
For example, last year I wanted to buy my girlfriend some perfume. She had dropped many hints about wanting some (not very suble hints either), but rather than me picking a bottle and potentially getting it wrong I opted for a gift voucher where she could go in and choose her own.

I would consider this to be considerate in wanting to get something I know she wanted whilst giving her the choice.


I don't see how cash shows you thought about anything or considered what they might want/need tbh. Fair enough it means they can buy what they want, where they want -- but no thought has to be put in when putting cash in a card.
The number of times i've heard the following conversation:
"what shall we get X for Y dearest?"
"I don't know, we'll just put a few quid in a card or something"
Not much sentiment in that huh

mjm3346

arcon5 wrote: »

Even if you do prefer to receive/give cash, its a little OTT to descibe gift cards as mean and selfish.

People don't give gift cards because they want to restrict your spending on certain goods or thinking a business may go bust. They would (should?) buy one for a store they know you shop at and/or will like. They may not have intended to restrict the gift but they have decided where you can shop-(selfish) and obviously they have not considered a store going under or they wouldn't have got a voucher.
For example, last year I wanted to buy my girlfriend some perfume. She had dropped many hints about wanting some (not very suble hints either), but rather than me picking a bottle and potentially getting it wrong I opted for a gift voucher where she could go in and choose her own.

I would consider this to be considerate in wanting to get something I know she wanted whilst giving her the choice.


I don't see how cash shows you thought about anything or considered what they might want/need tbh. Fair enough it means they can buy what they want, where they want -- but no thought has to be put in when putting cash in a card. Neither does a voucher (which often comes with card included-hence the mean)
The number of times i've heard the following conversation:
"what shall we get X for Y dearest?"
"I don't know, we'll just put a few quid in a card or something"
Not much sentiment in that huh

A voucher is just as "thoughtless" as cash can be but without the many advantages of cash and the big drawback of stores going under leaving the voucher worthless.

A decent well written card can demonstrate thought far more than vouchers/cash or even a present can.


Vouchers (like credit notes) should be avoided where possible to eliminate the waste when shops go under (It's not just about the "Woolies" of this world but local shops as well, plenty of threads on MSE about vouchers/credit notes that had become worthless overnight) and there are masses of vouchers that just go unredeemed.

emg

Sometimes I prefer to give a voucher to cash because I know the cash will get swallowed up in bills or spent on the kids and I actually want the recipient to buy themselves a treat from a shop I know they like. Ultimately I prefer to give a present as I feel neither cash or vouchers take much thought and I like people to feel that I have spent a bit of time and effort thinking about them and what they like.