A decade ago, I worked on POS systems as a software engineer.
The selling point was absolutely hawking gift cards. Since we saw the data from companies, and we had a clause that gift cards expired (before the government stepped on) I remember being blown away by how many millions it was in pure profit.
Gift cards. Bleh
HeapOfDogs@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I have been actively fighting gift cards in my family by giving cash. I’m all, it’s like a gift card but you can spend it anywhere! I took awhile, but little got into it.
Nommer@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Same. I’ve managed to convince my family that gift cards just tie you into their ecosystem. With cash you can spend it anywhere.
pirat@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I totally agree, and I definitely prefer cash too. Though, I think gift cards would make a tiny bit more sense if they were worth more than their selling price, since those money are getting tied into their ecosystem. However, that would effectively make them work like infinite discount coupons; E.g. pay 80€ for a gift card worth 100€ (20% off), then just instantly redeem it to save those 20% on anything you want to buy that costs 100€.