Gifts cards are wonderful and terrible
I talked a little about gift cards in an earlier post. I think they're pretty convenient, but in some ways, a waste of money.
For a while, I had a half dozen gift cards, each with a balance of around five or so bucks. I didn't really want to buy anything else, so the cards were just taking up space in my wallet or sitting on a dresser until I forgot about them.
Anyway, I now remember that I did a story about gift cards a couple years ago. It starts after the jump.
Hard up for ideas? Try a gift card or a gift registry
By MATT WIXON
The Dallas Morning News
Meredith McNeill remembers the Christmas when she unwrapped
salt-and-pepper shakers.
"I can't remember what I wanted that year," says the Plano
resident, "but it wasn't salt-and-pepper shakers."
Molly Smith of Rowlett got a similar shock when she received a gift
basket featuring ball-point pens, "slightly used" bath products and
Mardi Gras beads.
"I would've rather got nothing," Ms. Smith says.
Certainly Ms. Smith and Ms. McNeill would have preferred gift cards
or gift certificates, which are more popular than ever. So are gift
registries, which allow people to create lists of exactly what they
want for the holidays.
But some people worry -- are they impersonal and thoughtless? Are
they both more like a business transaction - I'll get you 50 Best
Buy bucks if you get me 50 for Pottery Barn -- than a gift?
Concerning gift cards, the answer seems to be "no." Gift cards can
be bought at virtually every store, in person or online, and a
survey by the National Retail Federation found that close to 70
percent of consumers plan to buy them this holiday season.
"Gift cards are a win-win situation for everybody," says Mark
Gonzales of Frisco. "It's easier for the person buying, and it's
better for the person receiving because they are going to get what
they ultimately want."
The projected worth of this year's holiday gift cards is $17.2
billion, according to the retail federation. That can buy a lot of
gifts, and those gifts won't be returned because they are the wrong
size, wrong color or hideously off the mark.
That's why Mr. Gonzales plans to give gift cards to family members
for Christmas. Ms. Smith also is giving gift cards to friends and
family, even though she believes gift cards are impersonal.
"Impersonal and last-minute," she says. "Kind of 'Here, I couldn't
think of anything to get you.'"
Lynette Zilles disagrees, and the Flower Mound resident finds ways
to be creative with gift cards. Ms. Zilles once combined gift cards
for dinner and a hotel to "put together a whole experience" for a
couple. She has also created her own gift cards - she gave a
baby-sitting card to her brother and sister-in-law, along with
"real" gift cards to be used while Ms. Zilles baby-sat their son.
And Ms. Zilles loves to receive gift cards.
"I don't think gift cards show a lack of thoughtfulness at all,"
she says. "I think if somebody knows where I like to go or where I
like to shop, then they know me."
For Michele Flinchbaugh of Plano, a gift card made shopping for her
son's teachers easy. She joined together with other parents to buy
the teachers gift cards for Stonebriar Mall in Frisco. "That way,
they can get exactly what they want," she says.
And that way, none of the teachers will receive the Christmas
lantern "dust collector" that Ms. Flinchbaugh received in a gift
exchange.
"I think it's probably going to find its way to someone else in a
gift exchange," she says.
As can't-miss as gift cards seem to be, gift registries are an even
more certain way to know what a person wants. Many stores, as well
as Web sites such as amazon.com, mygiftlist.com and findgift.com,
allow people to set up their own registries. Felicite.com does the
same thing and also allows multiple givers to pool their money to
buy one gift.
It's the ultimate way to ensure that a gift is on the mark, but it
might also be the ultimate attack on the idea of "It's the thought
that counts."
Ms. Zilles' first reaction to registering for gifts? "It is
presumptuous," she says. "First of all, how are you going to get
the word out without sounding greedy?"
Maybe it could be the final line in one of those holiday brag
letters: "Happy holidays to everyone! The family is registered at
Sears."
That's probably a little impolite, but Mr. Gonzales might not mind
getting that letter in the mail. Gift lists work for wedding and
baby showers, he says, so using them for other occasions makes
sense.
"You don't have to spend hours racking your brain at the mall to
figure out what somebody wants," Mr. Gonzales says. "You get
online, you figure it out, and you say, 'Bam, that's what they
want.'"
But is the spirit of giving tarnished if it becomes a simple
process of choosing gifts from an approved list? Is there any
excitement in opening gifts when you already know what they are?
"I think I would be more disappointed if I didn't get what I asked
for," Ms. McNeill says. "I've already hinted to my husband what he
should buy me, and it better end up under the tree."
She was laughing a little as she spoke.
But she won't be if she gets another set of salt-and-pepper
shakers.
E-mail mwixon@dallasnews.com