Comments on: When Store Credit Expires

By: squawkfox » Gardens and Gophers Oh My!

squawkfox » Gardens and Gophers Oh My! — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:16:13 +0000

[...] Cheap at Quest for Four Pillars writes a valuable tale in When Store Credit Expires. Mr. Cheap believes customers are often worse off for accepting reward points and shopping with [...]

By: Serger Roundup 07/13/08

Serger Roundup 07/13/08 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:09:45 +0000

[...] Cheap at Four Pillars rants and wonders about why store credit expires. Gift cards and the like are already an interest-free loan to the company. They may end up being a [...]

By: Tax & Financial Planning

Tax & Financial Planning — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:46:47 +0000

One thing that frustrates me is these “intorductory” pricing. The phone and cable companies are the worst.

Buy a bundle and save 30% for the first year! Why not just give me the whole discount and forget raming it up later?

By: Aaron Stroud

Aaron Stroud — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:28:21 +0000

A few years back, a local sports store was running a sale where you “saved more, the more you spent.”

It certainly didn’t work for me. I used it as an excuse to buy a few things I wanted (walkie talkies, etc) and I ended up spending far more than I would have otherwise. I also paid more for a few of the items. Ever since, I’ve been wary of “saving money” on sales.

By: Gene

Gene — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:47:06 +0000

Here’s an interesting NY Times article about the Gift Card Economy. I often refer my friends to it, since I think this topic is fascinating. It’s written by the authors of Freakonomics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07wwln_freak.t.html

The US has a website where people can sell, buy and trade second-hand gift cards at a discount, called plasticjungle.com. Would love to see a similar service in Canada.

By: Looby

Looby — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:27:44 +0000

@ Guinness- that must be it, because my family are all about cash too.
The best I ever saw was my friend sellotape a pound coin, a fifty pence piece and a 20 pence piece to a birthday card and write “buy yourself a beer”.
Perhaps I need to revisit this mode of gift giving…

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:26:00 +0000

In my family we’re all big on giving cash too, and always have been. I guess we’re just declasse paddies then.

By: Meadow

Meadow — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:42:12 +0000

When I left my last job, the staff had taken up a collection and bought me a gift card to a store I never frequent – probably because some of them liked the store, so thought this would be a nice gift for me.

Of course it’s the thought that counts – but still I regret their money was wasted on something I won’t get the good of. >sigh<

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:40:30 +0000

I just give cash – I have no problems with that.

By: Potato

Potato — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:31:13 +0000

Yep, I’m trying to get over the cash stigma by calling it “the universal gift card”.