Three Ways Gift Cards are a Scam

Another example of the absurdity of modern life

Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash

Some people like to give me gift cards to bookstores or other retailers. Probably you get them, too. I assume the givers think they are being thoughtful about my tastes, and I do appreciate that thought.

But givers should know that gift cards are a scam in at least three ways:

1. They are worse than cash for us, but better than cash for the card-selling company. It’s almost impossible to spend the exact amount on the card. Either I don’t quite spend it all, in which case the buyer of the card loses, or I have to spend a bit more of my own money. Either way, the card-selling company (who is usually not the final merchant) wins. Even better for the card seller, I may mislay or lose the card, which for me is like losing cash, but for the card seller is like finding cash. Notice that not even the end retailer benefits. It’s the intermediate card-selling company that wins big!
2. They can really be fraudulent. I have experienced cases in which the card is literally not worth the value printed on it —a scan of the bar code reveals that its worth is much less than the face value. It’s like getting counterfeit money.
3. They can fail mechanically. Today I tried to use a gift card to buy some books on line. When I tried to scratch off the “PIN number” on the back, it scratched right off, leaving it illegible. I don’t know what recourse I have now. I may as well have burned cash, except that the card-selling company already has it!

It baffles me why people continue to fall for this scam. If you can’t think of a specific gift to buy for someone, please have the courtesy and sense to give them real money!