This Christmas season, there will be countless Millions of dollars given to folks in various forms of non-currency (i.e. Gift Cards, Gift Certificates, Coupons, etc.,) and it just makes me wonder, what ever happened to good old-fashioned cash as a present?
I can hear my wife’s brain exploding on this one, but I am not talking about giving your 5-year-old a roll of $20 bills or your wife 5 crisp $100 bills as their Christmas present (unless of course they want that, but I digress), but how many folks who are secondary or even farther out acquaintances that you simply go out and buy them a gift card to Best Buy or the Keg or the like? Why is it OK to force these folks to go somewhere you think they might want to go, when CA$H let’s them do whatever the heck they want?
Why are you forcing your newspaper delivery person to go to Swiss Chalet for a $20 meal, when a crisp $20 bill says the same thing and is so much more flexible? They could buy some stamps, some gas, and maybe some cheese and still have change left? Who knows what they value, so why are you forcing folks to go by “something” where you think they should shop?
Canadian currency is a beautiful thing and the new plastic $100 bills are really swish (in my opinion), it’s like you are giving them art they can then buy whatever they want!
Let’s get back to Giving CA$H for Chri$tmas this year! Help stamp out the gift card and replace it with a Friendly $20 Bill! Let’s make Ca$h King again! When did cash become dirty (OK, I draw dirty mustaches on the Queen sometimes, but again I digress), you are giving cash with a gift card, so why not just give the cash?!?
Ca$h, the gift that keeps giving!
I took the point of the column to be that we should give cash instead of gift cards that coerce the recipient into spending money at a particular place (some posters seem to have a different take). That makes good sense to me, especially in non-reciprocal situations (newspaper delivery person, etc.). Maybe your newspaper deliverer would rather pay down their debts than pick up some crap from Best Buy. Or buy food, maybe.