I professionally handle gift cards, I touch gift cards all the time. I never give gift cards as gifts. The best way to use a gift card, the way I use them is as a way to save money. It's a way to get an additional discount on stuff you're going to buy anyway.

So I guess that operates on the assumption that gift cards should cost less than the actual value of the gift card. Yes. You should never pay a full price for a gift card, which I think is what most people's experience is. They go into a Walgreens because they need to get a gift for a party that they forgot that they were supposed to bring a gift to.

and then they pay full price for a gift card off the rack to give to someone else.