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Why on gods green earth do people buy gift cards? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by weeeeum@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Utterly stupid little things, its money that is less useful in EVERY situation and expires! Even at the store where you can use it, what do you do with the money that's leftover but too little to spend? Especially at expensive places, you could very well end up with 10-20$ OF YOUR OWN MONEY, that you can't even use!

I was given a dunkin giftcard for volunteering at a repair cafe. First of all I'm on a diet but secondly I stuffed it in my wallet so quickly I completely forgot about it. The day I remember and go through the trouble of attending such a wretched establishment I was told it expired after I finished giving my order! After such bother to try to use this cursed thing I refuse to return fruitless from my endeavors so I paid with my own cash.

It is now, sulking into my hashbrowns and Boston cream do I realize I am now poorer, fatter and fucking miserable. FUCK gift cards.

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[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The only reason I buy them is cash back / rewards credit cards. Say I know I want to spend $225 on something on amazon? I whip out my visa dividends, MC world elite or Amex Cobalt at the grocery store for 3-5% cash back or rewards card while purchasing groceries, and add a custom amount $200 gift card to the tally. So now I got $10 back on it in rewards that I can spend elsewhere. The CC issuer, Amazon and the grocery store are none the wiser.

[–] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Just an FYI, the grocery store doesn't know (or care).

But both Amazon and the CC company absolutely know, they just don't care, it's factored into their profit margins.

[–] RobertoOberto@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

...why not just use the CC on Amazon?

[–] Dempf@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

Could be they want to hit a certain category (groceries) on the card. Maybe they are also trying to meet minimum spend on a new card.

For those who shop a lot on Amazon, the Chase Amazon Visa is probably worth it since it always gets 5-6%, but if you don't have that card, using gift cards to hit a grocery category seems reasonable. Slightly more hassle, but at least you can split purchases on Amazon.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

As the other commenter mentioned, only cards I have give grocery cash back / rewards at 5% rate and that doesn't apply to Amazon purchases (which is 1%). AMEX Cobalt for example is a paid card, C$12/mo, but with grocery and amazon gift card purchases the rewards pay for the monthly fee.