Winning the Gift Giving Game
Gift card giving is getting crazy. Do you ever think about that? Why gift cards? Why not just exchange cash? And, in that case, while exchange the cash at all?
Think about it. Your friend gives you a $25 gift card for your birthday. On your friend’s birthday, you reciprocate with a $25 gift card. Now, you’ve effectively evened out.
Now, your friend gets married. So, now on birthdays, you’re giving a gift card to your friend and probably also his/her spouse. So, now that’s $50 you’re spending. If you’re lucky, you’ll get $50 in return on your birthday, but odds are that you’ll get $25. So, the couple is up by $25.
So, you can even that out by getting married. Then, you’re back to fifty-fifty.
Then, come the kids. So, they have a kid. Now you end up giving the kid a $10 gift on his/her birthday. So, now you’re down by ten dollars again.
You can even that out by having a kid of their own, but then your friend has a second kid. Back to square one.
The answer is to have six kids, because the odds are your friend will not have six kids. Many people will stop at one or two these days. So, by going past the average, your family will be up at least $40.
Of course, if your friend gets the same idea in his or her mind, your friend may up the ante by having 8 kids.
You can reciprocate by having 12.
Your friend gets divorced, marries a younger woman, has 6 more kids.
At this point, you’re down by two, but is it really worth ten bucks to have three more?
I think your friend wins at this point.
Then again, you can probably stop at six kids because, at that point, who will have time for friends anymore?
I think the odds are on your side for six kids. You’ll either best your friend in the gift card game, or you won’t have to worry about it because you won’t have time for friends anymore.
Or, maybe we just all need to come up with an alternative to the gift card giving madness?
We buy almost everything with our Visa, which we pay off every month.
With our reward points, last year, we ordered gift cards — which we sent to our daughters and their hubbies for Christmas. It sure simplified our Christmas gift giving and saved us money, too.
And if they send us gift cards, why, then WE are ahead.
We’ll be doing the same this year.
You’re not supposed to bring logic into a rant.
I vote to impeach!
Impeach the Gift Card Express!
Sociology 101 . . . or Cultural Anthropology 101, if you prefer: gift-giving reinforces social bonds. You’re not trying to come out ahead, you’re trying to achieve equity; and indeed, if you come out WAY ahead, you’ll likely be unhappy with the situation.
The only situation where this is turned on its head is the parent-child relationship, where equity is neither expected nor desired.
It may have had its roots in social bonding, but it seems to have become more of a custom that has become more rote and done as a course of habit or manner of tradition rather than as a meaningful exercise of social bonding.
the GCE stinks to high hog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant imagine having more than ONE child! LOL
To be honest I very rerely give gifts. I give of my time and that is way more valuable than a gift card anyway.