It’s less than a week before Christmas, which marks the official start of “Amazon and Starbucks gift card” season. There’s nothing wrong with gift cards per se, but these two in particular are so commonly gifted that they practically scream “I panicked and got this at the last minute”—which is exactly what you don’t want in a last-minute gift.
On top of being predictable, Amazon and Starbucks have spent most of 2022 engaging in blatant union-busting, which is a great reason to not give them your money. For this exact reason, unionized Starbucks workers are asking customers to skip the gift cards this year: In a Dec. 16 press release from Starbucks Workers United, partner Nabretta Hardin pointed out that “Each year, [Starbucks] makes over a hundred million dollars from gift cards that are never even used by customers.” That’s free money for Starbucks to spend on whatever they like, and by now, it’s obvious that they really like union-busting.
This year, don’t be a bore—or worse, a scab. Skip Amazon and Starbucks and shake up your gift card game with any of these great options instead.
