Reasons Not to Buy Gift Cards, National Store Closings and More
Holiday Organizing All Year Round, Time and Money Management Add commentsI’m not a big gift card giver, especially to kids, as they hoard them, lose them and forget them.
In the past few years of gift card giving/use
over 5 BILLION (yes with a “B”)
gift cards go unused every year.
HELLLOOOOO!
I find them on most organizing jobs, sometimes stacks of them – purchased for holidays gifts — and never sent. That includes gift certificates as well. PEOOOPPPLLLLE! :-/
So, here’s the latest.
STORE CLOSINGS and DOWNSIZING
Last month I posted a very long list of name brand stores said to be going out of business, a list that was going around on email. I’m reposting here upon receiving several emails from employees of some of the stores telling me the list was “partially” a hoax – I have taken the list off.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Don’t buy gift cards unless you buy them at the very last minute and you know they’ll be used within days! (Even that is no guarantee) And, if giving “cash”, give cash, a check or the debit/credit card type plastic that you’ve pre-loaded for your recipient.
If you read the newspaper, watch the news or read online, you’ll hear updates of the stores closing.
MORAL OF THE STORY (again): Don’t buy gift cards unless you buy them at the very last minute and you know they’ll be used within days! (Even that is no guarantee) And, if giving “cash”, give cash, a check or the debit/credit card type plastic that you’ve pre-loaded for your recipient.
ADDENDUM: My neice was given a debit/credit card type gift last fall. She used about half of it. When she went to use the rest of it, the cashier said that they couldn’t retrieve it off the card.
So, cash please!
©2009 Kim Wolinski, MSW “Dr. DeClutter” Stress, Change and Organizational Skills Expert www.drdeclutter.com
Editors and publishers are free to reprint blog articles as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and the signature line remains intact.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Along with all of the above, if you have a gift card for a new Ford, Chrysler, or GM car – you may be too late aleady. They are shutting down all operations as fast as they can.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I happen to work for one of these companies. In this case, yes more stores closings will happen but, so will store openings next year. It IS a tough year and all companies are trimming in costs. Who I work for is getting rid of the unprofitable locations and opening in new markets.
In most cases gift cards are great and to advise people not to purchase them is a bit of knee jerk reaction. Most people know the true retailers who are in trouble and you are right, they shouldn’t purchase cards from there. Also, to include the people who lose and don’t use them…. The same thing happens with the actual gifts we buy friends and family. With a gift card, they might actually pick out something they like rather than “lose and not use” the gift I picked out for them.
Thanks for reading.
-J
November 19th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Don’t forget Circuit City! They have closed over 150 stores and have filed for Bankruptcy protection. You would have to be crazy to buy a gift card there.
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 pm
wow what a read! this was excellent, thanks for posting this.
May 18th, 2010 at 10:52 am
The problem with the future is it turns into the present.