Spinoff: Gift Voucher or Cash

myself

Fri, Mar 02 2012, 6:28 am

In the other thread we discussed gift vouchers vs. a cash gift to teachers.

Where I live we have vouchers that can be used in over 40 stores (so you are not restricted by one store) and I would think this a most appropriate gift for a teacher. Of course others give actual gifts but most teachers I know get a dozen or so soap packs, perfumes or other knick-knacks which have absolutely no use.

Others have asked - why not cash? To me giving cash does not seem as respectable as a gift voucher. Am I correct?

Discuss!

Raisin

Fri, Mar 02 2012, 6:52 am

I would feel weird getting tips. To me, professionals do not get tipped. Would you tip your dr, accountant or lawyer?

I'd be very happy to get a gift card, especially if it was for a wide range of stores.

Queen18

Fri, Mar 02 2012, 10:44 am

Cash! I doubt the teacher will be off put at all and it's the easiest thing for him/her to use in the manner desired. I have gotten many Visa and AMEX gift cards that I end up left with a small amount of money on or misplace. You can not go wrong with cash.

Ema of 5

Fri, Mar 02 2012, 10:55 am

I would much rather get a gift card that can be used in a lot of different places. if it s only one place, then id prefer cash. I tend to misplace cash occasionally, so id rather have a card- gift card or visa gift card or whatever....

mango

Fri, Mar 02 2012, 11:28 am

Gift card is more presentable. When I babysat my sil kids for a week while she had in-service their was no.way she could have paid me for all the hours nor would I have accepted it but she gave me a nice visa gift card as a gift it was a nice way of saying I owe you so much more but here is a token of my appreciation. It was much appreciated.

Strawberry2

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 5:48 am

Queen18 wrote:

I find that cash ends up paying your bills & a gift card is used to treat yourself.

de_goldy

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 11:43 am

Strawberry2 wrote:

Queen18 wrote:

I find that cash ends up paying your bills & a gift card is used to treat yourself.

Exactly. Why decide for the teacher what she should spend the money on? Sometimes it's much more of a gift to pay off a grocery bill than get a manicure.

Optione

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 11:59 am

I think that a gift card for many places/visa gift card is more presentable then cash. Don't get me wrong, the cash is always appreciated Wink

.

Even though, yes, cash to pay your groceries is a huge gift, I do believe that these monetary gifts that are given once/twice a year should be used to treat yourself/spouse to something "extra". I strongly believe that it is good for the health. When someone lives paycheck to paycheck and can never get anything extra, I think that someone can become bitter. But if there are these really fuzzy slippers for $25 that she wants, this extra $ is the opportunity! (Granted this can be accomplished through cash, too, but I still think a visa/gift card is more in the "extras" mood)

chocolate moose

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 2:26 pm

DD got a Visa gift card and used it at Macy's. they did something wrong, she ended up paying for her purchase AND lost the value on the card.

DH got an American Express gift card and most places don't take it.

Having experienced this, cash is king. Always was and always will be. That's what my boss gives and it works great !

middy

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 3:42 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

I agree! I have so many cards floating around my pocketbook that each have a couple of dollars on them...so annoying!!

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 4:04 pm

Sometimes people feel giving cash is unrefined or somehow crass, and give a gift card instead.

There are two main problems here - a gift card to a specific store (or group of stores) may not be to the recipient's taste, and a debit card may have lots of fees, both upfront when you buy it and later deducted from the balance.

I recently when through the rigamarole of cashing out a substantial debit gift card in order to receive a check as the fees were so ridiculous, and not how I wanted to waste the givers' funds, and probably not how the givers envisioned their money being spent.

Even gift cards for the mall are problematic - I really can't find anything at the mall I would use. When a gift certificate seems in order (for a small gift when giving someone just a little cash would be awkward) I choose a large discount department store where you can get almost literally anything in person or online. A teacher can be trusted to decide for him or herself if s/he wants to spend the gift on necessities for home/school/family or on frivolities.