We have family on otherside of country, sending cash via mail is risky, so we sometimes default to a gift card for something in their local area.

Typically only promotional/giveaway gift cards expire here in Canada.

As an alternative to using a credit card online is a good idea, as good an idea as any for security and anti-tracking if nothing else. But only if you remember to use them.

One other thing is, (and I'm not positive this is true), but people on disability can't have over a certain amount of cash. Giving a gift card makes sense in that instance because it no longer counts as cash at that point.

This won't answer your question directly, but I know in some jurisdictions gift cards or prepaid lunch cards are taxed differently than income and that's why employers often resort to these instead of actual salary raises

The only reason I buy them is cash back / rewards credit cards. Say I know I want to spend $225 on something on amazon? I whip out my visa dividends, MC world elite or Amex Cobalt at the grocery store for 3-5% cash back or rewards card while purchasing groceries, and add a custom amount $200 gift card to the tally. So now I got $10 back on it in rewards that I can spend elsewhere. The CC issuer, Amazon and the grocery store are none the wiser.

When I had Netflix I registered it with a gift card.

I don’t know what to get you and prefer something better targeted than cash. Tell me what you want, what you really really want, and you might get that instead

— if you complain again, I’m writing you a check: tell me how inconvenient that is

For a lot of online transactions, this is usually the only way people can get access.

There are a lot of people out there who don't have credit cards or bank accounts, so they can't buy anything online. A gift card to an online store may be the cheapest or only way they can pay.

Every few years I find a drawer of expired gift cards and throw them out. One time I kept a one hundred pound gift card in my wallet for months on end, keeping it alive with balance checks in the store but never using it. My partner noticed this and said “just give it to me”, and promptly lost it forever in one of her handbags.

Good establishments don't have their gift cards expire.

Gift cards are great if the recipient often shops at a given store, but the giver isn't sure what they want.

Let's say I've got a friend who loves board games. I don't want to get them a board game, because A. They might already have it, or B. Someone else might get them the same one. A gift card to a game store would be the perfect gift for them.

I think the problem in your case was that a Dunkin gift card wasn't a great gift for you specifically, but the giver was trying, so don't be too hard on them.

Since ,my company are such sticklers about not going over our daily meal limit while on travel, and have as yet ignored our requests to just do per diem or use the total from the trip, I often purchase gift cards to fill out an underspent day on travel. An Apple Card or something for some restaurant where my wife likes to get lunch.

My dad gave me an Apple gift card of something like 200$ last year.

I don't buy Apple product. I would have taken the money but eh