Is Giving Gift Certificates a Good Idea?
Gift certificates or gift cards are very popular nowadays. Almost all grocery and drug stores as well as some department stores carry a variety of gift cards from retailers other than themselves. There are also gift cards from financial institutions like American Express and Visa that you can use like credit cards. In one of the online forums that I frequent, a question was asked whether giving gift certificates is a good idea since some people believe it’s too impersonal. There have been several responses to the question, and most of them say that gift certificates or gift cards do make good presents. Let’s first look at some of the advantages of giving a gift certificate. From the giver’s standpoint buying a gift certificate is very practical and convenient. You just go into a store and purchase a very small and light item (the gift certificate or card) which doesn’t need to be wrapped. You don’t have to go to great lengths figuring out what merchandise to buy and whether the recipie
