I was watching CNBC the other day at a friends house (I don’t have cable) and they were making a big deal about gift cards, discussing the pros and cons. I’m not going to regurgitate their conversation here, but I will offer my own thoughts on the subject.

First off, I’ll start with some of the negatives. Some gift cards will come with different fees associated with them. Among these are fees to purchase the card as well as possible inactivity fees. These aren’t typical fees for most cards, but will usually be associated with gift cards purchased from credit card companies and cards for a certain mall or shopping center. Standard gift cards for a single store usually don’t have these conditions. The other negative with gift cards is that they can potentially expire. If they aren’t used within a certain period of time, the recipient will lose the ability to redeem them.

Now for the positives. While some people would actually prefer to receive cash as a gift, it’s not generally considered an acceptable gift in our society. Gift cards are a great way to compromise in this area. You can gift a certain dollar amount and still let the person pick out something for themselves. As far as the recipient is concerned, they’re then able to use the card as cash at a place that they assumably regularly visit.

Whatever your personal thoughts are on this subject, we ought to realize that they’re just a gift from someone. We should be grateful that they thought enough of us to get us a gift instead of scrutinizing their “gift-giving etiquette”. And if you’re worried about whether you’ll be looked down upon for giving a gift card, you ought to reevaluate who you choose to associate with. Just have a happy holiday season and enjoy whatever gift exchange that occurs.

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