It’s Not Cash, Really It’s Not

The longest lines at the mall during last week’s pre-Christmas shopping crunch didn’t feature people hauling merchandise but rather waiting to exchange one form of currency -- American dollars -- for another -- those nifty store cards. Some malls even set up kiosks where you could get cards redeemable for everything from manicures to meals. Once considered the cop-out gift of a lazy shopper, gift cards moved ahead of clothing this year as the most popular present.

These cards are shaking up the retail industry, as well as our gift-giving culture. More choices, less risk and a chance to wrap a message in a Christmas gift box. Worried about the grandson’s algebra grade? Tutoring programs now offer gift cards. Wish your son-in-law would do a little home improving? A Home Depot card can hammer that message home.

The cards allow their buyers to pledge allegiance to a retailer too, by issuing a currency not accepted at competitors.

The use of gift cards grew by about 20% this year, and there’s no sign the boom will abate. Consider it the triumph of the untraditional, our choice of practicality over sentimentality. More than two-thirds of Americans either gave or received gift cards this year, and half put the cards at the top of their Christmas wish lists.

Savvy retailers have successfully promoted the notion that gift cards are considerably less crass than cash. To advance this socially convenient conceit, the cards at some stores are packaged in beribboned boxes and personalized with photos. Of course, if the retailer is really lucky, the card will be among the 10% or so that are lost in the post-holiday shuffle and never redeemed at all.