opportunity knocking, but apparently nobody is home

i saw a news story yesterday about how the most popular gift item - the gift card - is now an endangered species. what the? why?

well, it turns out that in these dire economic times, people are actually planning on spending less money this holiday season [[shock]]. the story went on to reveal that americans plan to buy items that are on sale. and gift cards don't go on sale.

so my first observation is that people are cracked (yah, like you didn't know i thought this already). if you like someone well enough to give them a gift, why in the heck would you choose their gift based on whether or not it's on sale, rather whether or not it's something they'd want/need/like?!

second, gift cards are a great deal for a company. they get the benefit of having your money right away, without the detriment of giving up any product in return for it. 50% of cards are redeemed within 30 days, and 90% are redeemed withing 90 days. some are never redeemed. so why - why - wouldn't any retailer see that it's in their best interest to offer, say, 10% off on gift cards? to make it worthwhile, they could even put a limit on it to entice larger purchases, like if the card is $50 or more, you get 10% off. people would eat it up!

i'm convinced retailers are daft.*

*i love that word