re: Most underrated invention ever

The gift card.

Think about it from a company’s perspective. You convinced people to buy something in advance that many people will never cash in on.

And think about the amounts. Nothing ever works out to exactly $20 for example. So if someone uses their gift card and only uses $15 of it, the company gets a free $5.

If an item costs $25 and you use your $20 gift card, you got a customer into the store that spent an extra $5 than was previously spent. And while they’re in the store, they may make other purchases that they otherwise never would have made.

And then as I said, there are people who never cash in their gift card. So if someone never uses their $10 gift card, that’s just free money for the company.

It’s fricking brilliant.