senoritafish | Points n' cards...

Wow, I just realized I only need about 448 points to get another $25 in gift cards (for a total of $75) at Gather.com. I've gotten over 1000 points in the last few months for only putting up a few things. I should really start posting more pictures and photo essays over there. People seem to look at those more than anything else. Does anyone else here post over there? I'll look at your stuff if you look at mine... ;)

I know I also have enough points at MyPoints.com for over $100 worth of something - I should really cash these in before the holidays. It'd help a lot. The last time I did I got Starbucks cards for my coworkers, which then got lost before I could give them to them. Derp.

Speaking of gift cards, I keep seeing these ads for selling gift cards you don't want, with someone (a graduating senior maybe) pulling one out of a card and saying, "A gift card? Again? Why is everyone giving me these?" Or another person throwing them into a drawer in annoyance. Really? People hate them that much? With the exception of getting one from a place you absolutely would not want anything from - say, my giving everyone on my friend's list a card for Bass Pro Shops - would you really throw away a card, just because it's a card instead of a gift? We were regularly giving gift cards for bookstores when my kids went to birthday parties. Reading is always good, but that way, we're not stepping on toes in case other parents - who we don't know well - don't care for our selections of books - some people are pickier than others. Then again, if there's someplace I can buy a gift card for myself or other's at a discount, more power to it.

I guess it must come down to me not being very practical. Even when I was eating the same pot of lentil soup for a week in college, or back east when I was a fisheries observer, I would have appreciated a card for books or music, if such things existed at the time. A good story'll take your mind off the fact you've been eating the same thing for that long.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, I'm perfectly happy to get gift cards. Can't speak for anyone else though.

Me too, but it's the same deal with cash, I guess. A lot of people think it's a cop-out and you're not putting any thought into what you're giving as a gift. However, if it's for something you can actually use, why be offended. If it were something I absolutely couldn't use, I might give it to someone who could, or donate it. But be annoyed that someone gave it to me? It's the response portrayed in the commercial more than the actual company I suppose, that bothers me.

Speaking from the perspective of someone who's poor, a gift card often feels like a slap in the face to me. $25 to Borders might sound like a nice gift, but that's $25 that could have fed us for a week, y'know? It's a little different when we mention that we need new sheets and someone gets us a card for Walmart or something, but otherwise it's just a little disappointing.

I'd never reject a gift card or tell someone outright, but yeah it can be hard to accept a card for something entirely frivolous when getting the basic necessities is so tough. Most of the time it's given in the "you haven't spent any money on yourself, treat yourself" vein of thought, but it can be difficult to break that thought pattern and at least personally, I can find it hard to enjoy things that I bought just for fun when I'm struggling to put food on the table.

There also seems to be an element of "I don't know what you like so let me guess" that comes with them. Usually safe with Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target or whatever, but I've had ones for Sephora before that I have no idea what to do with. The best ones are the Amex cards, then you can use that anywhere on anything you like, those are the ones I really appreciate. 8D

SO YES BOTTOM LINE. I would probably be that person selling my card if I knew a way to do it. This probably makes me sound horribly ungrateful, but yeah. XD

Note to self -

otana would maybe prefer grocery store scrip as a gift - and I would not be averse to that either.

Believe me, I know supporting more than one person with one income is tough. As far as the points I was going to cash in, I was going to use the cards towards something for my family in December as it's usually kind of short around here then. And I have used cards given to me to buy the kid's clothes or something they needed for school. There are quite a few times I haven't been able to give anyone anything, especially recently. I realize we're comparatively privileged, though. If my dad hadn't asked us to live here, we'd be a lot worse off. No one's hungry (if I've been down to just eating ramen, at least my family hasn't been), we have a roof, internet access, and I can buy a book now and then.

As I said, if someone gave you a Sephora card out of the blue, without knowing if it was something you would even want or use, yeah, I can see your wanting to sell it (and here are a couple of places - http://www.cardwoo.com/ , http://www.plasticjungle.com/pjweb/ or http://www.giftcardrescue.com/ - I think the first is the one I saw the ad for). I was going to say, if it's something for someone I genuinely don't know what to get something for, an AMEX/Visa/Mastercard would be best as it's the same as cash and you can use it anywhere. I would never give someone a card to a company if it something I was sure they wouldn't use. We did get one last year for Kmart we haven't used yet because 1) there are no Kmarts near us, and we'd have to drive a long way to use it, and 2) it's a company I'd rather not support because they did their best to not pay my best friend's valid workman's comp claims - she's had to retire on disability from injuries she got on that job. The card was from John's aunt in Michigan, who I know is on disability as well; and I know she really couldn't afford it herself. However, I know she feels out of touch and wants to connect somehow, so I still appreciate the thought.

Personally, when I do give them, it's usually for people I don't know at all - kid's friends from school, office white elephant, or my garden club's Project Self Suffiency family, where a single parent in the program that would otherwise have very little submits a list of what she and her kids like. Sometimes the kids will put down a particular video game or iTunes music. I can't quite get a whole game for them, but I can put $10 towards it with a card (unless someone else wants to go in together to get the whole thing).

I guess what really ticked me off about the ad, is that it just really reminded me of one holiday when I spent a lot of time picking out something for my dad. He loved to watch M.A.S.H. and I found a t-shirt from the show I thought he'd love. He opened it up, grimaced and said "I hate olive drab." I realize now that it reminded him of being in WWII and probably had some bad associations for him (and he also has no filters), but it hurt a lot at the time.

If I can ask a question, if the card were something you could use for something you really wanted, or the gift were the object itself, say a new video game or some piece of cooking equipment, would you still feel the same way?

That would depend, I think? If someone got me a card for Gamestop or something, it might still be a bit weird if we were seriously struggling, just because buying a game would be the last thing on my mind. But I almost always need new cooking equipment and since I cook almost everything we eat, appliances can make our life easier when it comes to that.

It really does depend, and I know I have my own personal hangups with gift cards. Getting a Target card, or Albertsons, Walmart, Amazon etc ... those are alright, those are things that will come in handy because we often spend money for the house there. Even Bed Bath and Beyond wouldn't be too bad; a bit wasteful considering they tend to have higher prices, but at least we can get towels and cleaning products and stuff there.

I think that largely, it depends on the person. And that right now, I am that person who hates most gift cards. XD

Points n' cards...

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