In my previous column, I advocated for a new/next normal in gift giving where we have to be more mindful of the presents we give, especially during the Christmas season. I pointed out that gifts, especially the ones that ultimately get thrown away, are not only a waste of our hard-earned money, but also have a negative impact on our environment and climate that continues to degrade due to irresponsible human activities.
As we finish up our Christmas lists this year, we really have to take more matters into consideration, not just the rising cost of everything which means that we want to get the best bang from our gift-giving bucks. If we think about how anything that we buy almost always involves carbon emissions in each stage of its product life, from raw materials sourcing to manufacturing to transportation and distribution, the 6 billion people in this planet can make a big impact every holiday season if we choose to be more responsible gift givers.
To be a responsible gift giver, we will need to know and give only what the recipient wants or needs. That way, we don’t waste money and encourage unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions on gifts that end up in storage or the dumpsite. It is sad that all the social media data mining and artificial intelligence in the world still cannot help us in this very personal matter, but I’m pretty sure there is someone out there, just waiting to be the next Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk if they can save the planet and make money this way.
For now, the best option when it comes to gift giving for people we don’t know what exactly to give that fits the required budget, is cash, electronic cash transfers, or gift certificates (GC). These are options that we thought were for lazy gift givers back then, but if you come to think of it, it makes the most sense these days. Cash is recyclable because it circulates and since it can be used to buy whatever the recipient really needs or wants, less waste and greenhouse gas emissions are generated.
Of these three options, the GC is the worst because of so many reasons, especially here in the Philippines.
First of all, a GC still involves printed paper or plastic cards.
Secondly, in this country, GC’s are still treated as second class citizens, compared to cash, even if it should be even better than cash for the business that issued it because it already accepted the cash in exchange for a contract to give the bearer its equivalent in products or services.
While GC’s have finally lost their expiration date after the Gift Check Act of 2017 was signed into law, that’s about the only improvement for the GC. It is still a pain to use, especially in the more backward establishments where a customer who presents a GC can never expect to complete the transaction as easily as it would be if it were in cash or credit card.
My last experience with GCs was at a grocery when we tried redeeming some reward GCs and as expected, our check out time was significantly longer than it would’ve been if we only paid “normally.” First of all, we had to use the GCs at only a certain branch of this nationwide supermarket chain. On top of that, we had to transact only at a certain counter, and despite the GC coming from their own establishment, whatever system was in place to accommodate it was so unwieldy that the cashier had to manually scan every GC at the POS. If I had been gifted with those GC’s, I would’ve started thinking that whoever gave it to me must not like me very much for making me go through all that unnecessary hassle.
If you ask me, stores that don’t want to bother with providing a seamless and trouble-free GC experience shouldn’t make them available in the first place. Let’s just go with cash if it’s easier that way. All we need is a paradigm shift and start telling each other that cash gifts are actually not lazy presents, but they are the most responsible way to give gifts in today’s world where there not enough money yet so much waste.
We’ve been programmed to enjoy the act of accepting gifts wrapped in fancy paper and pretty ribbons for so long that receiving cash, especially if its electronically transferred, might still feel insulting for many. The GC was supposed to help us transition, but the way things are over here, we might have to skip ahead to the cash gift, especially if no improvements are made on the end of the vendors and whatever system they use.
Is there a better way of revitalizing the GC so it can help us give more responsible gifts?*
