15 individual gift cards? Really?

[Lady_Foxfire]

My mom just told me a good one: she and my sister were at the store earlier, and they got in line behind a lady with a largish order; It rings up to about 94 dollars. The lady then proceeds to pay for $75 worth of the order in gift cards. $5 giftcards, to be exact, all of them in individual envelopes. She had to open 15 envelopes, and hand the cards to the cashier one at a time, while there's a line forming behind her. I hear about this kind of rudeness a lot, esepcially on this board, but I'm still scratching my head as to where she got 15 $5 gift cards, all to the same store.

[UncleImpy]

For a while there, Safeway (grocery chain) was giving out $5 gift cards to customers that completed a huge survey. Might have been some sort of promotion like that that she exploited a bit.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

How was the customer rude? Companies offer gift cards so they can be purchased by somebody and then redeemed in their establishments by the recipient.

I understand it takes time to open the envelopes and scan all the cards, but them's the breaks.

A similar thing happened at my store a while back. Guy bought a TV and paid for it with a huge wad of gift cards. I had to wait for them all to be scanned. It was a nice break for me.

As for how she got them, maybe they were all gifts?

[ArcticChicken]

It was rude in that she had to sit there and fiddle with fifteen individual envelopes. She obviously knew she was going to that store, and it would have been much quicker for her to get all the cards out of the envelopes before she got there so she could hand them all to the cashier in one lump.

[Chromatix]

What I want to know is, how did she know they were gift cards for that store, if they were still in envelopes?

[rvdammit]

I know some stores here provide branded envelopes for their gift cards. Or she's opened them, checked and returned them to their envelopes.

[Boozy]

It was rude in that she had to sit there and fiddle with fifteen individual envelopes. She obviously knew she was going to that store, and it would have been much quicker for her to get all the cards out of the envelopes before she got there so she could hand them all to the cashier in one lump.

That's how I interpreted it too. Gift cards are the quickest form of payment at many stores, but like any form of payment, you have to have them ready.

I compare this with those customers who wait until their total is announced to even begin digging their wallet out of the bottoms of their bags.

[Rapscallion]

Just wondering if she got married recently. Chums of mine who got married not so long back said they'd been together for a few years, so they had everything they needed, but gift cards to a certain store would be good so they could save up for a big item.

Doesn't really sound likely for a load of five dollar cards, though.

Rapscallion

[Broomjockey]

It could be they were purchased for an event, but something happened that they weren't needed anymore, so rather than trying to refund them, she's using them. That'd cover knowing what they were without removing them from unbranded envelopes. However, yeah, if she knew she was using them she should have been liberating them while stuff was being scanned, or before she went. She probably expected the cashier to dispose of the envelopes, and if I remember correctly, the cans at the tills (when they exist) aren't that large.

[greensinestro]

I'm not sure rude is the way this woman was. Maybe a little inconsiderate and did not put any thought into removing the cards before having her stuff rung up.

As to how someone would have that many cards, my wife often wins $5 gift cards at places like Target or Wal-Mart, usually for selling. She has accumulated so many of these cards, so if she one day decided to use them all at one time, she would have to hand each card one at a time to the cashier. It's annoying to others behind her, but I've waited behind worse. The worst ones are the ones who use these cards when they have no more value on them, then literally argue with the cashier, hoping the cashier will magically add the money back on, or just take their word for it. That's where rudeness comes in.

[Gruesome]

Sometimes a thing like that happens more-or-less on purpose.

When my wife's sister got married they had big plans for serious home renovation projects, so we bought them $500 in Home Depot gift cards. I think we bought about 40 of them in various denominations.

I apologized to the checkout girl when we dumped the big pile on her desk, but I don't think it worked - she shot me a nasty look the whole time.

[One-Fang]

She has accumulated so many of these cards, so if she one day decided to use them all at one time, she would have to hand each card one at a time to the cashier.

Am I missing something about how the cards work over there? Why couldn't she just hand them to the cashier all at once? I realise the cashier's got to scan each individually, but your wife wouldn't have to hand them over one at a time, surely?

[the toy guy]

We get people paying with stacks of ten dollar gift cards sometimes. My understanding is that they are from the rewards program on the store credit card.

[DerangedHermit]

A local church's food pantry does this at my store with GC's. I don't know if the store donated them or if it's paid for from the church, though.

[greensinestro]

Am I missing something about how the cards work over there? Why couldn't she just hand them to the cashier all at once? I realise the cashier's got to scan each individually, but your wife wouldn't have to hand them over one at a time, surely?

OK, so I worded that incorrectly. Of course she could hand them all to the cashier at once. I should have said the cashier would have to scan them one at a time.