What are you going to do with £1K Harrods gift card

Cobbler_tone

Lord_Mattenly said:

Cobbler_tone said:

I wouldn't be happy receiving a taxable gift to a dedicated store at that level. Especially one who has been under much investigation for horrendous reasons.
Much prefer a £50 Just Eat voucher!

It is not the store being investigated, but previous owners and senior staff. 

Semantics...the 'store' are the owners and senior staff, some of which are still under investigation. You're not supporting Charles Harrod.

Anyway, it's not worth the tax IMO which is the key point.

Grumpy_chap

CatsAreEverywhere1 said:

Electricals at Harrods are not vfm but that's where we're probably landing - upgrading some of our kitchen electricals that are coming to the end of their lives. We know we could get better deals on them at other stores - but then what would we do with this gift card?

Given how close it now is until Christmas, is really is worth waiting until the New Year Sale.
Harrod's is one of the few places that actually still has sales where the regular stock is actually reduced and, sometimes, generously.  I have twice purchased excellent jackets in the Harrod's sale.
There is only one sale may be more true than you'd imagine.

As for "VFM" - are you comparing exact same models?  

BrilliantButScary

DullGreyGuy said:

BrilliantButScary said:

IamWood said:

FlorayG said:

I'm curious to know how valuable the hampers used to be? I can't even imagine a £1,000 hamper!

I think this is the one I received last year.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/the-christmas-day-hamper

We usually give them away to friends, neighbours and charities.

Giving the £1000 Harrods gift card to family or charity would be my choice, as it would probably be still in my purse a year later unspent. 

Given you are going to pay £200-£450 tax on the gift surely you'd just decline the giftcard rather than pay to give someone a very expensive gift?

No, I wouldn't decline the gift card, as I am sure the employer can afford it! I wouldn't keep it, as there is nothing that I either need, or want particularly. The tax spread over a year is not a lot of money, £3.85 - £8.70 per week, going on your estimate. It certainly is not a lot of money if you're being paid over £200,000 a year. 

Gifting the gift card to family or a charity would give me greater pleasure than trying to to think of something pointless to buy.

Anyway, it's all hypothetical. I was never in danger of being gifted anything like this from my employers, in fact any gift received from the public, had to be declared and written down i.e. boxes of chocolate, china mug etc. 

DullGreyGuy

BrilliantButScary said:
Anyway, it's all hypothetical. I was never in danger of being gifted anything like this from my employers, in fact any gift received from the public, had to be declared and written down i.e. boxes of chocolate, china mug etc. 

Gifts from someone who isn't your employer dont attract tax and are materially different.

Assuming your public sector so the "public" are your clients. We're the same client/supplier gifts (in either direction) have to be recorded and over a certain value approved. I've never worked out if the changes in thresholds I've experienced over my career is caused by inflation and/or differences in company policy. 

When I started my career it was for the consumer insurance arm of a banking group and anything at all received had to be logged and anything over £50 had to be approved. Now in the world of corporate insurances its only gifts over £250 that have to be logged and those over £500 pre-approved. 

Other than a few beers and the occasional meal out my gift receiving has always been nil other than one Christmas where a marketing company we'd been using mistook me for a marketing person and included me in the annual present of a bottle of champagne, some fancy smoked salmon and half dozen oysters all in a big box full of crushed ice. 

Had no idea of the value, wasnt sure if the value was supposed to be high street or what the company paid. On the basis they sent over 50 of them to us alone imagine they had good volume discounting. Let others take the fish and oysters and took the champagne home. 

Nebulous2

BrilliantButScary said:

DullGreyGuy said:

BrilliantButScary said:

IamWood said:

FlorayG said:

I'm curious to know how valuable the hampers used to be? I can't even imagine a £1,000 hamper!

I think this is the one I received last year.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/the-christmas-day-hamper

We usually give them away to friends, neighbours and charities.

Giving the £1000 Harrods gift card to family or charity would be my choice, as it would probably be still in my purse a year later unspent. 

Given you are going to pay £200-£450 tax on the gift surely you'd just decline the giftcard rather than pay to give someone a very expensive gift?

No, I wouldn't decline the gift card, as I am sure the employer can afford it! I wouldn't keep it, as there is nothing that I either need, or want particularly. The tax spread over a year is not a lot of money, £3.85 - £8.70 per week, going on your estimate. It certainly is not a lot of money if you're being paid over £200,000 a year. 

Gifting the gift card to family or a charity would give me greater pleasure than trying to to think of something pointless to buy.

Anyway, it's all hypothetical. I was never in danger of being gifted anything like this from my employers, in fact any gift received from the public, had to be declared and written down i.e. boxes of chocolate, china mug etc. 

The idea and theory of no gifts is positive, we don't want public sector workers subject to inducement, but it doesn't take into account the nuances of human behaviour. 

I've always been one to follow rules, and when I started as a nurse it was strictly no gifts, unlike now when there are limits,  but I was happy with the clearcut policy.

Very early in my career I was caring for a man, who was dying. He was very proud of his car, a fairly modest car, but almost new. He told me one day that his wife didn't drive, and he was concerned about his car being unused, could I go start it, charge the battery, check the tyre pressures and generally make sure it was okay? His house wasn't far from where I was staying, so I was happy to oblige. 

The car was fine, but before I left his house his wife gave me five pounds. I tried to refuse, but she was adamant. He had been worried about the car for weeks, was extremely grateful for what I had done, it would give him peace of mind, and both of them insisted I should be paid. 

I took the money and worried about it for days, to the point of not sleeping. Would my career be over before it started, would I be sacked? Should I report it to the nursing college? 

A few weeks later he suggested I might repeat the exercise and check his car again, but I couldn't cope with the moral dilemma, made excuses any time he mentioned it, and managed to avoid it. 

Looking back now, almost 40 years later, any regret I have is not about breaking the rules, but that I didn't do what I could to reassure him in his last few weeks or days, and hang the policy....  

Murphybear

I lived in London for 25 years and my BFF and I used to visit Harrods a lot, especially at Christmas.  If I had a gift card for that sort of money I’d buy luxury perfumes, skin care products etc.  

I can remover buying a beautiful leather handbag in the sales one year.  They used to be very good for that sort of thing but I don’t know if they are still.   I left London in 1996 and haven’t been back since.