One of my relatives sent us ugly sweaters and $20 Wal-Mart gift cards for 10 years. The thought was nice, but I'd rather have $20 in cash, not a random amount t

One of my relatives sent us ugly sweaters and $20 Wal-Mart gift cards for 10 years. The thought was nice, but I'd rather have $20 in cash, not a random amount that I'm either going to stay under because I'm a kid without money (thus not being able to use the change for other things) or go over using the allowance I'm saving up for bigger purchases. I ended up saving all of the cards I'd ever received from her because I couldn't remember which ones still had money on them or not. This was before state laws were in place to stop gift cards from incrementally deteriorating in value over time as well, so by the time I felt they'd probably all have enough leftover to buy a pack of gum or something, the money was gone. I'd also say it's just as lazy as cash, judging by the lines of people at the customer service kiosks at malls that hand them out and how they're last-minute suggestions in line at the grocery store.