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My gifts will always be better than a gift card!
I just finished reading an article on CNN Money about gift cards, and this part caught my eye: "Here's the other upside for retailers: Over 12 percent of gift card recipients won't redeem their cards at all. So that's a lot of free money right there."
Over Twelve percent.
"Boston-based consultant Bain & Co. predicts a 15 to 25 percent uptick in gift-card sales for 2003 over last year, to between $42 billion and $45 billion. That's about a 20 percent chunk of the overall holiday sales forecast, estimated to be $217 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF)."
Let's do the math.
We, the public, are giving away approximately $5,400,000,000 (12 percent of $45 billion) to the retail industry annually. That's five billion four hundred million dollars.
GIVING IT AWAY. FREE MONEY. Here. Target. Have some money. Blockbuster. You need some more money. Have some. Merry Christmas. Too bad we can't just take all of those unused gift cards and put them together and buy something good... like a small country.
I said something out loud about it at work, and everyone around me told me about all of the gift cards lying around that they have never used. I think after reading this, I may never give people gift cards again. If I am so lazy or so dumb about my loved ones that I can't find a decent gift, then I will give nothing at all or give cash. People use cash. Who am I to tell them how to redeem a monetary gift anyway?
You must spend this money at Starbucks. I insist. I want them to have free money if you don't use it. Just because.
I just finished reading an article on CNN Money about gift cards, and this part caught my eye: "Here's the other upside for retailers: Over 12 percent of gift card recipients won't redeem their cards at all. So that's a lot of free money right there."
Over Twelve percent.
"Boston-based consultant Bain & Co. predicts a 15 to 25 percent uptick in gift-card sales for 2003 over last year, to between $42 billion and $45 billion. That's about a 20 percent chunk of the overall holiday sales forecast, estimated to be $217 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF)."
Let's do the math.
We, the public, are giving away approximately $5,400,000,000 (12 percent of $45 billion) to the retail industry annually. That's five billion four hundred million dollars.
GIVING IT AWAY. FREE MONEY. Here. Target. Have some money. Blockbuster. You need some more money. Have some. Merry Christmas. Too bad we can't just take all of those unused gift cards and put them together and buy something good... like a small country.
I said something out loud about it at work, and everyone around me told me about all of the gift cards lying around that they have never used. I think after reading this, I may never give people gift cards again. If I am so lazy or so dumb about my loved ones that I can't find a decent gift, then I will give nothing at all or give cash. People use cash. Who am I to tell them how to redeem a monetary gift anyway?
You must spend this money at Starbucks. I insist. I want them to have free money if you don't use it. Just because.