Gift Cards

The gift card dilemma arises every Christmas season. That is, is giving someone a gift card a great idea or an act of rudeness and insensitivity. I admit up front that i like gift cards, and I'll give my reason below. But here is what anti gift card writer in my newspaper wrote about gift card as presents.  "In some ways, gift cards are the equivalent of looking under the Christmas tree to find that your significant other got you socks. Sure, you need socks, some of us maybe even want them, but for the majority of gift receivers, a gift giver taking the lazy option often makes the actual gift less special."

On the other hand, in opposition to that view, I see gift cards as the ultimate effort gift because most of use who resort to an occasional gift card do so after exhausting efforts to find some material product or service the receiver wants. That's not easy to do in this age of garish consumption where the idea gift is popular for five minutes before being replaced with the next most popular (usually some crazy electronic or electronic related gift).

Giving a gift card is saying, "I tried hard to find something I was sure you wanted or didn't already have. I spent hours searching but could not. Here is a gift card because you can better search for what you want. If this gift card is not appropriate for you, tell me and I shall never give you another one of those." And no one has ever dissented about getting the gift card I have given them...ever. In fact most seem happier to have a gift card than some random gift chosen on a wing and a prayer. Getting gift cards is like receiving money. Who could object to that?

Gift cards don't say, "I don't know you that well" or "I don't care about you that much." They say, I am not as capable as you of knowing what gift would be best for you. I care or I wouldn't have given you this gift card ." But here is an odd statistic for Americans at Christmas time. According to Bankrate, while more than 50% of gift givers plan to give gift cards this holiday season, only 27% of people prefer to get them. Explain that one? Maybe it is in line with the fact that giving a gift is avery difficult task for most of us. And perhaps, we should be happy with anything given to us. But then, people today do like to whine and protest.

What do you think? Is giving a gift card a personal insult, an admission you don't know or care enough about the person to select a tangible gift? Or is it the best way to give in this age of endless and changing "junk" from which to select a gift?