Cut the middleman, gift me cash
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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One year, I got fifty gold colored US dollar coins and put them in a drawstring bag [the kind Robin Hood would carry] I gave it to my buddy for his birthday.
It was great watching him play with the money like he was a pirate, or a Roman emperor, or Conan the Barbarian.
Yeah no thanks. Cash doesn't expire, it also doesn't make me use a split payment because all of my gift cards have some but not enough, I'll just put it with the rest of my cash.
I often prefer a well thought out gift card over money. It forces me to use that money on something. If I get cash then it just goes into my bank and becomes one with my spending and bills money. Yes, cash is the better form of money, but if you want me to actually spend the money on something, then a gift card is the way to go.
The compromise is to do cash that's earmarked for something. My family will give me an envelope and say "this is for bitcoins" or "reddit gold". And then I tell them "okay..." And then just buy whatever I want.
this is for reddit gold
Thanks for the gold, ~~stranger~~ mom!
My mom gave me reddit gold once when I broke my arms.
you gave your Reddit username to your mom? That's brave
gift cards suck. don't decide for me where to spend the money, don't give me something that will eventually become invalid if i forget to use it (i probably will). they're such a scam.
i pledged years ago to never buy those again. always cash instead, or wire transfer money.
You are getting a 40# case of oranges apples or onions from me, solely based on how much each cost at the time.
Fine. Pack of socks instead.
Nice socks are an underrated gift.
Gift cards are a raw cash bump for stores perpetrated by idiots upon society. I’m rarely preachy irl, but gift cards always set me off. You’re just giving stores money for no reason. Why are you donating to Amazon? Bestbuy doesn’t need your money. I don’t even like massages.
You know what’s better than a gift card? Cash or making plans to just veg out for a couple of hours together. I will gut you like a fucking fish if you hand me a gift card. I will end your bloodline if you force me to call a phone line and register an account to access fucking money as a gift. You’ve inconvenienced us both. Just place the bills in an envelope and draw a smiley face on the front before I have to invent a hate crime
Edit: Per another comment, this seems to differ by country, and might be an impossible "win" for the US, where I haven't seen expiring ones in ages.
When is the last time you've used a gift card? I haven't had to fuck with making an account for one in over a decade. I'm also seeing other people in the comments talk about expiration, which is another thing I haven't had any of them due in quite a number of years (pretty sure some laws changed so they can't anymore).
I'd totally prefer cash, but it's not some horrible affront to the natural order of things anymore.
Outside of those psuedo-debit card monstrosities. I still see those with extra fees, registration, and expiration (technically maintenance fees down to a zero balance). Those are extra dumb as fuck. Just give me the cash.
A bit extreme, but true. I fucking hate gift cards. 'oh but this one is branded visa and you can use it anywhere' well I want to deposit it in my bank account but they won't let me do that directly noooo so I have to send you the money you just gave me in this moronic format through fucking PayPal which will take a 3% cut so that you can send it back to me with less value so I can finally transfer it to my bank account. Plus whatever shitty fee that you paid to get this garbage piece of plastic.
It took years of me saying 'just CASH' to family members, and eventually they started giving my gift cards, to which I recited a variation of this message, and the last few years they fiiiiiiinally have been just writing me checks.
It took like 15 years but I get all my gift, you save 'card fees', no bullshit middle-man, everyone wins.
I actually think gift cards can be just fine.
Someone just moved and need to get furniture? I don't want to decide what lamp you get yourself. Giftcard!
Or by using my self as an example; I never buy my self fancy chocolates, incense, scented candles or such, but I like having them. If I got a gift card for a store of that kind I would be forced to spend it there and thereby forced to make my self happy.
Of course a gift card at Amazon or whatever would not be very fun. There is zero thought behind that.
why limit what someone can buy. Just give them cash.
Giving any kind of gift from the heart is a nice gesture. That being said, I always preferred giving cash to gifts cards since it doesn’t restrict the recipient to one store.
Although if you know their specific interests, gift cards are a good way to encourage someone to get themselves a treat they wanted but otherwise wouldn’t have splurged on, or a good gift for those who want to shop online without having to enter payment information.
With cash, there’s the pressure to spend it on essential things like groceries, rent, transportation…if my friends and family need any of those things, I would gladly help them pay for it without obligation, but it’s not what I would choose as a gift for special occasions. Not talking about generic gift cards, but I might give them a coupon for a salon I know they frequent, or a craft or music supply store where they go for equipment.
i absolutely get the underlying intention, but the bad feeling of having missed the deadline and ending up with a voided present is just awful
Most gift cards I know of have no expiration dates. Gift certificates, something from a more barbaric age, on the other hand...
No expiration date? In which country? I'm in Australia, I've worked in a couple retail stores and it's usually a 3 year expiry for gift cards. You also have the generic visa gift cards you can purchase at supermarkets, same 3 years.
Believe it or not, in the US I haven't seen a gift card with an expiration in probably a decade, outside of the generic visa ones draining to zero over time due to maintenance fees.
Yeah. That used to be the case in the US, but it’s illegal now.
Largely because, instead of expiring,after a year or so the card would charge a monthly maintenance fee until it was empty. This was deemed unreasonable and declared problematic.
Now that's something I've never seen before. I agree, it is absolutely unreasonable. I find it interesting that instead of just removing the maintenance fee you instead remove the expiry as well as the fee. I don't understand the logic but, it is what it is I guess
Giving you money would be thoughtful. Involving a company is thoughtless and without reason.
Two people in my family regularly get gift cards. One due to being in Panama and the other is my grandpa, for gas. The closest the rest get is I'll take nephew and nieces to the book store and let them load down a bit after Xmas, which is really more an excuse to pal around.