Question of the Day, Friday, February 26

Good morning!  And Happy Friday! 

Do you use gift certificates? Do you like them? Do you give them as gifts?

I'm asking because I had a King Arthur gift certificate given to me by our kids as part of my Christmas present. For some reason, this thing was burning a hole in my pocket and I really wanted to spend it. So I bought a new cupcake pan, some lemon wafers, and some lemon juice powder. And a 3-pound bag of pumpernickel flour. It should be here by next Tuesday....had it shipped into work.

We have some restaurant gift card, too. One to Longhorn and one to Red Robin (we were going to use the Red Robin one the other week, but once we got home from work, we decided we weren't leaving the house). One to Texas Roadhouse and one to Red Lobster. Rick has a Lowes gift card and he got a WalMart gift card from work. We haven't used them yet.

Do you like to use them and/or to give them?

I love gift cards. I usually get Amazon ones. I got an Olive Garden one for my birthday. I took DD there with it earlier this month. I don't get the hype about that place.  I also got one of the Vanilla Mastercard ones. I have no idea where I'll use it though. 

I do give them. Usually to co-workers for their birthdays or Christmas (excuse me- it's the "end of the year" here- not Christmas  ). I belong to a site called E Rewards and they send em surveys that I take and I can use the credits that they give me towards gift cards or other stuff. The only gift cards I ever get are for Game Stop which DD happily accepts 

I also belong to Swagbucks. They give out points also for surfing the web, surveys and other stuff. i get gift cards from them too. They have a very wide variety of cards including Amazon, WM, Home Depot and many others. I've been with them for about 7 years and have gotten almost $1,000 in rewards. 

Doing surveys and getting a gift card from Sam's for renewing my membership got me a 5.0 cubic square foot chest freezer for no money out of pocket  

Did I hijack the thread??

I love gift cards (and I love freebies )    

I love getting gift cards, so long as they're for stores I like

I tend not to like giving them though (with the exception of my kid cousins and a friend's kids who I don't know very well). I'd always prefer to give a gift, as it's less obvious how much I've spent.

Mum always gets Amazon gift cards as part of her birthday and Christmas presents though....she loves seaching for rare and out of print books, so they're always eagerly recieved and used

I don't particularly like getting them but, I have bought them for people when I know for sure the store/restaurant is somewhere they usually shop or dine at.  For myself, they are like coupons.  I have good intentions of using them but they inevitably wind up getting lost 

I am kind of weird. I do not care for receiving gift cards. Unless I use it immediately, I will forget about it, till who knows when. 

Initially, I really did not like to five them as gifts because the dollar amount you spend is obvious; however, I found them to be the best thing for people (including teenagers) you do not know what to buy for.

They seem to love them..

We get a lot of gift cards given to us. We have had gas cards, Visa cards, Applebee's, Outback, Ruby Tuesday, and other restaurants. We also have had Lowe's, Wal Mart, Belk, Penny's, Kohl's, grocery stores and who knows what else. We do love to get them. I keep them in the car pocket so they are readily available when we are out and about. We also give to as gifts, always to our son and his wife at Christmas.

Since they are the same as cash, we make an all out effort to use them, even if it is a restaurant that is not our favorite place to eat. My husband and I both are very thrifty and we can't stand to waste things that can be used, or to see others waste things, especially food. :nod:

I like getting them if it's a place that I do normally go to.  I give them if it's someone that I don't know well enough to buy a gift for.  I will also give one if I know that what they really want is out of my price range.  I give them one for where they can buy what they really want and use the gift card to help with the purchase.

I love to give and receive gift cards. The nieces and nephews get them from us for their birthdays and Christmas so they can put them towards something they really want or need. Hubby almost always gets gift cards from people because he's so hard to buy for, and often he passes them on to me.

I gave every niece and nephew a gift card this Christmas. :lol3: Some were for hotels, some for boat tours, some for online photo canvasses, some for restaurants, etc.

We often get gift cards. Sometimes they are for chain restaurants and we don't go to them often. It will take a bit longer for us to use those. I've also gotten them for amazon, garden centers, etc.

I actually buy them for myself.  Costco will have $100 in gift cards for $80 at restaurants.  It's a 20% savings or the tip.  When I was driving a lot and Safeway had 4x the gas points on gift cards I bought cards for fast food places my kids like and a McDonald's card for myself for sodas.

I don't like to give them as gifts, except for LUSH cards for my best friend.  she loves that store.  I send iHOP cards to my son at college.

I give them to my nieces and nephews as I'm not in good health and it is hard for me to go shopping. That way their mothers can pick out something they need. I don't mind getting them if it is for a store I shop at but that's not always the case.  

Yes I have both received and given them as gifts.  The last gift card I received was for Christmas and it was for my hairdresser, I really liked that one. 

I also get gift cards from my rewards from banks etc.  I usually choose the dining gift cards when I have enough points.

Kat0121 , did you not tell us about another survey thingy the other day where you can get points for something or other? Yeah, I'm so specific, lol. You should start a thread with links to these things! I love doing surveys, I do one that contributes a percentage to your designated charity (I picked a cat shelter). Now who is hijacking this thread NOW? lol.

Anyway, on topic. I like gift cards, and I am not opposed to giving them either. I don't get as many gift cards these days now that there is that Amazon wish list but still get some occasionally. Then there was the gift exchange in my family where I said "surprise me". You would think the person that got me (my great-niece) would ask what I wanted if she had no idea, which she didn't. She gave me a Stub-Hub gift certificate. I didn't even know they had gift certificates for that!!! Plus I never use Stub-Hub.

Donutte said:

@kat0121, did you not tell us about another survey thingy the other day where you can get points for something or other? Yeah, I'm so specific, lol. You should start a thread with links to these things! I love doing surveys, I do one that contributes a percentage to your designated charity (I picked a cat shelter). Now who is hijacking this thread NOW? lol.

Anyway, on topic. I like gift cards, and I am not opposed to giving them either. I don't get as many gift cards these days now that there is that Amazon wish list

but still get some occasionally. Then there was the gift exchange in my family where I said "surprise me". You would think the person that got me (my great-niece) would ask what I wanted if she had no idea, which she didn't. She gave me a Stub-Hub gift certificate. I didn't even know they had gift certificates for that!!! Plus I never use Stub-Hub.

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I use

 http://rewardsurvey.com   this one gives points towards free magazine subscriptions (physical and digital). They also have the Wall Street Journal and ebooks (none of which I have ever heard of though)

http://pineconeresearch.com   - You need to apply for this. Approval is based on demographics. They pay $3 per survey. I let the money build up on my account (I have $105.00 right now). When I'm ready to cash in, I have them send it to my Paypal. They are super reliable. The surveys often lead to product tests. I've made at least $1000.00 from them and have gotten lots of free full sized products to test. I've been with them for years. 

http://erewards.com  - these are similar to reward survey but they do have some gift cards and you can discount codes from some retailers. I have never gotten anything from them other than the Game Stop gift cards for DD. 

http://paidviewpoint.com  - this one pays .10 cents per survey. You need to build up your rating with them by doing these very short surveys. They come fairly often. The higher your ranking, the more likely you are to get a real survey that pays more. They also pay real money. They send it to your Paypal. It takes longer to build up obviously. They are also very reliable. I have about $42.00 on my account now. I've made somewhere around $300.00 with them so far. 

http://swagbucks.com  - these guys are awesome. I have been with them for years as well. There are many ways to earn bucks from them that can be used towards gift cards (MANY to choose from including Amazon, Wal Mart, Home Depot and so many others) and merchandise. I have made just shy of $1000.00 from them too. This is the only one (I know of) from the above list that works in Canada also. 

Back to the original scheduled programming...   

I love gift cards! Free money! :lol3:
We've been tight on money, so I rarely have cash to spend, but I've got a couple of gift cards left from Christmas. It's nice to be able to go spoil myself with something frivolous without feeling like I'm wasting money.
I wonder sometimes why nobody thinks to get me gift cards for places like PetSmart, though.

I rarely give gift cards, but occasionally when I can't think of what to give my dad I'll get him a MicroCenter gift card. He calls them "Golden tickets to Geek Heaven."

I love gift cards, too! As for giving them, it depends if I can't find something for family they specifically want/need. Or if they like a certain place to eat out at.

Gift cards are always appreciated with my family and I!

yes, i like gift certificates. though, it needs to be for somewhere i'll use or like.

i usually give my mom and aunt/mom's twin a gift card for barnes and noble each year for Christmas, along with something(s) i've baked. they both love to read, and there's a barnes and noble location near them.

I like gift cards! And sometimes I give them out too. But don't want it to be the dominant thing - I like being able to give a physical gift if possible, and enjoy the process of decorating it and so forth. And vice versa, it is nice to actually feel a real item in your hands, unwrap and enjoy the surprise,




But gift cards are pleasant, and can be very useful/helpful! 

I like gift cards if it's for a retailer that I frequent or a general Visa gift card that can be used anywhere. I have a Legal Seafoods gift card sitting in my wallet for at least the past 5 years I love seafood but I just don't have the time to go out to eat and it's no fun going alone I also have a Target gift card from last Christmas that I haven't used yet.

I occasional give gift cards as gifts. I try to choose a retailer that I know the recipient will shop at.

LTS3 said:

I like gift cards if it's for a retailer that I frequent or a general Visa gift card that can be used anywhere. I have a Legal Seafoods gift card sitting in my wallet for at least the past 5 years :anon: I love seafood but I just don't have the time to go out to eat and it's no fun going alone I also have a Target gift card from last Christmas that I haven't used yet.

I occasional give gift cards as gifts. I try to choose a retailer that I know the recipient will shop at.

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I've had gift cards for both Applebees and the Cheesecake Factory forever!