holiday shopping - gift certifcates are out, bargain shopping is in!

@cher913 (25782)
Canada
November 18, 2008 9:08am CST
the malls are busy with holiday shoppers and this year the draw is not to buy a gift card for that hard to buy person, but to hunt down the sales and buy items on sale for the loved one. with the economy the way it is, is there any wonder?
2 people like this
7 responses
@shymurl (2765)
• United States
18 Nov 08
It is hard with the economy the way it is. I'll be making food baskets this year. I bake up different kinds of cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, fudge, and stuff like that, put them in a tin, or a cute basket and give them out as gifts. They people I give them understand and they seem to enjoy them a bit more.
1 person likes this
@ebsharer (5515)
• United States
18 Nov 08
Here in PA there is a grocery store that for every $50 you spend you get 10 cents off you gas if you use there gas staion. They are running a holiday special that if you buy a gift card at there store for $50 you get 20 cents off gas. So I have been buying gift cards and then buying the Christmas presnets with it. My boss was doing the same thing and ended up getting a FREE tank of gas! The way it work is you get that amount like right now I have 1.60 in fuel perks so when I go to fill up my per gallon cost will be 1.60 less then what it actually is. Right now gas is 2.20 so my gas will be 60 cents a gallon for up to 30 gallons!!! So I use gift cards but not for other people. I am a HUGE bargain shopper. I find the best clearance all the time! I also shop all year. So after holidays I buy things for the next holiday. It works out my son and daughter's brithdays are in Jan and Feb so I always get really cheap presents for them because all the Christmas toy overload is on sale - I LOVE IT!
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
18 Nov 08
i start shopping for next christmas the day after this christmas (here in canada, its a holiday and the stores put crazy prices on stuff - its sort of like black friday in the us)
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
18 Nov 08
Economy is all about TURNOVER. Shops want cash, businesses need to sell their goods ... the great river of money must be encouraged to flow! A recession isn't about a lack of money, it's about the flow of money stagnating. You and I think of a dollar as being a meal ticket, rarely anything more. Business needs to see dollars flowing through. The value of a dollar to them is how fast it moves, not how much it will buy. Obviously, people who buy gift cards are damming up the stream a little. The businesses don't actually sell the goods they bought as stock until the gift card is redeemed a month or two later. This is the reason why you are encouraged to buy presents and not tokens. It's also the reason why you are likely to find some bargains. Profit is not everything, either. If a business sticks to its profit margin and prices goods too high, the cash flow will dwindle and the business will come to a halt. In a recession, especially, it's better to have a high turnover at a small profit than a turnover that dwindles to nothing at a high profit. What are YOU doing for the economy? Are you spending (and especially on American-made goods) or saving?
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
1 Oct 09
Thanks for BR! I notice that I wrote this 11 months ago and here we are, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (well, *a* light ... it may only be one4 of those little glimmers that means a refuge is coming up!). In my town there are many empty shops, sadly, but there are also others that seem to be thriving (and I know of some that actually are). Unfortunately, it seems to be the smaller, local businesses that have gone to the wall while the larger chains are the ones that mostly seem to be thriving. I still believe that what I said above is true of what a recession really is.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
19 Nov 08
just do what you think is right for you and the people you are buying for.
@kykidd (6812)
• United States
21 Nov 08
Hi Cher! And thank you for your responses in my discussions. I greatly appreciate it. In today's economy, this sounds like a fabulous idea. I hadn't heard about it, but I think that it's great. I myself found an excellent flight for my mom to come down south and see me for the holidays. She wanted to come, but didn't think she would be able to drive that far by herself. I wasn't able to pay for the whole flight, but since it was such a good deal I paid for half and she paid for the other half. To here it's like buying her a vacation. And if it weren't for the great deals that are going on right now I would never have been able to afford it. I didn't know what I was going to get for her anyway, so that worked out well. Thanks for starting this discussion, and have a great day!
@PearlGrace (3171)
• United States
19 Nov 08
I shop for so many people every year and many of my gifts have to be mailed out. So, I actually love doing gift cards because there's usually very little cost for extra postage to mail them. I've heard there's going to be some great bargains to be had this year.
@Anne18 (11029)
18 Nov 08
Well if you know where to look you can find good bargins that look like they cost a lot of money but realy cost less than the gift card you would have spent. Happy hunting