Are holiday gift cards lazy presents?
Dec 22, 2015, 8:30 PM | Updated: Dec 23, 2015, 9:38 am
Of all the annual holiday traditions, buying a gift at the last minute is perhaps the most practiced by gift-givers. And this is something Starbucks knows well.
After tracking buying habits year after year, the coffee giant is expecting to take in a record number of gift card sales on Christmas Eve in 2015.
In 2014, Starbucks sold about 2.5 million gift cards throughout the United States and Canada on Dec. 24 alone. That factors out to about 1,700 gift cards sold every minute. With those stats at hand, Starbucks believes 2015 will beat that record.
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In just 15 years, and with more than 60 designs, the Starbucks gift card has grown to become a considerable portion of the company’s sales — more than one-third of all transactions at Starbucks in the U.S. and Canada were paid for via a gift card. It factors out to more than $25 billion having been loaded onto Starbucks gift cards over the years.
For KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz, it all adds up to reflect our cultural gift-giving attitudes. Getting a gift card says something, and it’s a range of meanings, according to Rantz.
“The gift card, especially when we are talking about a Starbucks gift card, to me, that indicates you waited until the last minute and you forgot about a certain person in your life,” Rantz said. “Or maybe it’s because someone got you a gift and now you feel the pressure to reciprocate. So you run down to Starbucks and you end up getting them a gift card.”
Rantz is a big fan of the Seattle coffee chain, and regularly visits his local branch. On the other hand, the coffee gift card has its place.
“It shouldn’t be your main gift if it’s like a family member; unless you’re loading $100 bucks onto it. That’s meaningful,” he said.
It’s not just gift cards that people will be rushing out to cover their procrastination. Seattle’s Amazon is rolling out a program for the Puget Sound region to help out in those last-minute present jams. Prime members can make use of the Amazon Now app.
“They’re actually putting a ton of resources and money in to the Amazon Now service locally, in the Puget Sound area,” Rantz notes. “Now you can purchase up until 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve and get whatever your purchased delivered to you by midnight on Christmas Eve.”
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Of course there are limitations. The desired gift has to be in stock at a nearby warehouse. But Rantz believes that Amazon knows what it’s doing – betting on the growing online market … and procrastination.
“I’m willing to bet it does, really, really well. It’s the pinnacle of how lazy we’ve become,” Rantz said.
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Tune in to Seattle Red AM 770 weekdays at 3-7pm to The Jason Rantz Show.
