Gift vouchers are a brilliant way to give something that is guaranteed to please the recipient, because the recipient himself chooses exactly what he wants, within certain limits, of course. In this way, one can avoid buying gifts that are never used, gifts that are not appreciated, gifts that may offend, cause shame or make the recipient sad and upset. It’s a crisis! The joy of hitting a lightning bolt, on the other hand, seeing the recipient become genuinely happy and excited, there is little that beats that. But it is by no means easy. In today’s wild consumer society, you almost have to have a doctorate in recipient preferences and shopping patterns to know what hits. And should you get any tips about what a person wants, you can swear that they have got it themselves before you have time to give the gift. The gift card concept is therefore very useful. As long as the gift cards are used then. And they don’t always, unfortunately. Unused gift cards in Norway are estimated to be worth around NOK 2.5 to 3 billion. Enormous values, then, and a very good shop for anyone who issues these gift cards. Come on, here we have to find some good solutions, so the money ends up elsewhere. Because it is like this: If the gift cards are not used within a specified date, the money ends up in the pockets of the shop owners. It is stated in the terms of the gift cards. In other cases, stores may be closed or go bankrupt while the gift cards are valid. Then the money is also lost, and the value of the gift card goes to the estate – which must be said to be very unfortunate for both the person who bought the gift card and the person who received it. These are pure alms that the shops do not deserve at all. Even if the customer has basically accepted that this is so. Some may think that printing gift cards is a good service from the outlets, but it is completely free, and what’s more, it involves completely interest-free loans from customers to the stores. Therefore, the issuer should really have a moral duty to return the money to the customer, if the gift card is not used. What we need is a smart and sympathetic way to avoid the stores confiscating these huge amounts. We need some sort of poste restante function that lifts the gift card concept to a whole new level. One idea could be that when customers buy gift cards, there is an additional line that says what will happen to the money if the recipient does not use the gift card within the specified period. Here, the customer can enter his own account number, so that the customer can decide for himself what should happen to the money. Or you can bring up a charitable organisation, such as Kirkens Bymisjon, Red Cross or Amnesty, which can get the money instead. Simple measure to introduce, and considerably more sympathetic and consumer-friendly.
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Gift card for trouble – Speech
