To think a £10 gift card is pointless

[AcornConker]

I’ve been given a £10 gift card for my birthday by my sibling. It’s a bit upsetting as I took her on a day out to York for her birthday and spent quite a bit treating her but she’s not got much money so I can’t expect much.

But I’m finding it impossible to use. It’s a One4All gift card and none of the online retailers that accept it interest me. I live rurally and to go into a city or town centre where I could use it would cost me a lot in public transport costs. If it was £20+ it may have been worth it but £10 seems a comical amount and I almost wish she hadn’t bothered. It’s become a chore and a bit of an eyesore sat on my coffee table.

I’ve also recently come into financial difficulty myself and the pressure to use the gift card before it expires is putting pressure on me as to buy anything these days for £10 is impossible and I’ll have to put in my own money as well which I can’t do. I can’t even buy a bloody book with it.

AIBU to think that voucher gifts for an adult should be £20 minimum. If giving less then just give cash! Also for the value of £10 I’d have much rather have had a nice bath bomb or something like that, I feel I’ve been given a chore instead

It sounds like ten pounds is a lot for op, (as well as her sister). It does feel like a waste when there’s obstacles for spending it for something essential.

It’s hard to explain the feeling to people from a more privileged background. People who have easier access to a variety of shops and dont second-guess what they spend their gift cards on or if they leave them to expire unspent.

🤣🤣🤣

B&Q probably coffee table decorative eyesore holders for under a tenner.

The problem with gift cards is that people very often given very little consideration to which how easy(or difficult) it is going to actually spend this card. It's pretty useless to have a £10 gift card for a shop where everything cost more and, the person you are given the card to is going to have to spend money to get to the shop. A £10 note might have been more useful.

It was the eyesore bit that tipped me over the edge to make my comment 😂😂😂

I do get that your sister has outsourced the pressure of finding a gift without much money from her to you.

I think just buy something online with it, maybe from Boots, and suck up the delivery cost or topup. She tried.

more money than sense comes to mind....why not at least give them to someone else/donate them to charity rather than bin them, that's so rude and selfish.

YABU OP. Most of those gift cards have at least a year's date, are you really saying you'll never venture anywhere bigger than a village in 12 months - there are Boots absolutely everywhere, and loads of M&S outlets, JD sports, TK Maxx, etc. They're hardly shops you only find in big cities.

There are absolutely loads of useful things you can buy for under a tenner - underwear, socks, tampons/makeup/moisturiser/even food, or the bath bomb you'd deign to accept, from boots. I don't see why you feel 'pressure' to use it, just stick it in your car/wallet or wherever and forget about it until you next go to town.

M&S take them, you could put towards something for delivery? Argos take them as well, there must be something you could use from Argos for a tenner - they sell candles and that kind of thing, or even something you might have to buy anyway like batteries, then you can spend the actual tenner on anything you want having 'freed' £10 by using the voucher.

You say your sister hasn't much money - at least she tried to get you something you could use on whatever you wanted, rather than risk a tenner on some tat or other you wouldn't use, she just didn't think through the logistics for your circumstances.

I just use them in Argos for something else I would need like a kid's birthday present, hoover bags etc and then buy myself a cuppa and cake instead.

YANBU. Match her effort in future and give her a £10 gift card in future.

Coincidentally I posted yesterday on a thread saying how sit One4All are. They do not honour their gift cards when they don’t work.

buy some toothpaste, or toiletries, shampoo etc in Boots, or some toilet roll, im sure there is at least one thing in that shop that you would use

YANBU. I think the culture of sending gift cards is promoted by companies to spend money on their products. We are sold with the image gift cards are easy to spend and have plenty of variety, which to people who can't access shops easily and who looked for bargains and essentials only, it is not really the case. It tries to change behaviour of shopping and put the shopping task in our mind. I also would rather receive a box of chocolate at hand or a card but not a gift card. I have given a gift card away to friends because they would buy things from that shop anyway and I wouldn't want anything from the shop. I have bought non essential items from another shop because the gift card is running out. I hope this culture of gift card would change and people just give a card or nothing. Or people can give money instead if that is really necessary.

So she managed to scrape up £10 despite financial difficulties and you are annoyed? Wow. Perhaps you should tell her hoe annoyed you are by having such a chore so she can avoid doing it in the future.

I’d hang onto it until you need to go to one of the towns / cities / out of town shopping centres that has shops you can spend it in .
£10 would get you a book , a nice candle , some socks , a pack of knickers , some very nice haircare or you can put it towards something else .
You seem ungrateful.
I had a big birthday 4 years ago and one gift was an M&S gift card for a fairly small amount .
I hung onto it until I was at one of the M&S that sold clothing and put it towards much needed nighties , socks and tights

if you have a John Lewis near you. Buy one of their gift cards with it.

But that's exactly what she's saying! The cash would have bought her something, the voucher is a nightmare to use.

What a shame for you.

You can get paperback books for under £10

But it's going to cust her money she doesn't have, to get somewhere she can buy a book.

Well, exactly. 'You can spend our amazing 'wonder gift card' in over 100 shops'.
Versus 'you can spend this amazing 'ten pound note' in over a million shops, pubs, car boot sales, craft markets, record fairs, dodgy roadside stalls ...'

Waterstones take them. £10 will cover most paperbacks, or you can add a few £ to get something bigger.

Or buy some sun tan cream and aftersun from Boots. Hopefully you'll need it shortly.

I love getting gift vouchers. I always have a list of little things I'd like but find it hard to justify. 😊

You’ve at least a year before it expires or charges interest, you will need something in Primark or Argos within the year. If not sell it for the price of a coffee.

Surely you can get something out of Boots or M and S? Even if not something “gift” like per se you can get some nice food or some toiletries or something?

https://www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/books/fiction

“Upsetting” ?

wow