Giftcards vs Cheques

You probably need to talk to Lovatts about this if it bothers you that much. For me, if someone is giving me $1000 I'm not going to worry too much about how it's paid.

Thursday lunchtime , the usual place.

Cash is always better than a gift card unless you can buy the gift card at a discount. Cash can be spent anywhere.

I think he's talking about a prize given by a corporation. Large amounts of cash is a security risk and definitely not mailable.

That's silly. I mean really silly. You're saying you can't find something or somethings to buy over a year that amount to $1000? Talk about first world problem (which ironically people from 3rd world countries would find absurd as they would gladly get $1000 in spendable income which would be necessary and useful and never wasted).

This day and age? Gift cards (if not linked to a single store or retail site or service site) are basically debit cards in their utility.

The cards that Lovatts give as prizes are pre-paid Visa debit cards and can be used anywhere.

Which is basically what I wrote.

I know they're a debit card, sometimes having cash in the bank is more preferable.

Except for placing online orders, I would take cash (in pocked or checking) over a debt card card any day. I don't want to get to the point of having a balance of $19.00 and needing a payment of $20.00.

But what part where corporations read this and move away from their decade's trend of handing out gift cards and never cash. 1. mostly it's a matter of convenience on their part. 2. there's probably a literal liability issue. 3. regardless, even lottery programs don't handout literal cash when you take the single lump sum.

And as opposed to mailing a check? It's the 21st century. Most corporations don't like to dwell on outdated modes of payment. Direct deposit? You're going to send them all of your banking info and they're going to go through that rigamarole? For the corporation? It's all about the convenience of the corporation. Plain and simple. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to free money (of course, even money that you may end up having to pay some taxes on... wherever you may reside/local laws varying).

Actually, I don't much care about the convenience of some lottery program. I was expressing a preference.

Good point about giving out banking information, though.