Gift Cards, Wedding GIfts

Freakonomics column in NY Times has an article about efficiency of gift cards . Basically the author argues that a large percentage of gift cards are never redeemed. In fact, Best Buy pocketed 16M last year on gift cards, all cash with zero cost!

Personally, I also received a lot of gift cards for my wedding, partly due to I specifically ask for "cash gifts" in the invitation. Nevertheless, a majority of them is still sitting in my drawer. But I cannot imagine if I receive gifts instead of gift cards, multiple sets of frames, wine glasses, etc. sitting in my storage room. Probably the best way is to always give pure cash, or, I propose, changing the tradition to have no gift at all. Think about this: you invite N guests to your wedding, and on average you will attend N/2 weddings in your life. The amount you give should equal the amount you receive. There is also the extra trouble of calculating how much you should give, not too much, not too little, and remembering how much you received from X so that you can give him/her back the same amount in return on his/her wedding. All these troubles and inefficiencies can be saved with NO GIFT AT ALL. I am referring to the gift you give for the sake of giving, not small gifts which has sentimental values. Those are the ones I would love to get from my close friends.

Of course, there are people who would argue that more gifts means boost to our economy. But that's a separate story.