Give Someone a Gift Card and They'll Buy Fish For a Day...

Shopping

I ran a contest recently. The prize was a $25 American Express gift card. Someone won. She sent me her address so I could send her prize. I thought I could purchase the gift card using points from my SendOutCards account. Turns out a gift card purchase can only be made from my expense account. I informed the winner of my mistake and asked if she'd accept an audio book or a hard or soft cover book of her choice instead.  "Sure," she said. Her book of choice was one of my favorite business books of all time; Go For No! by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz.  "Sure," I said.  I logged into my SendOutCards account and sent her the $12 book and a $1 congratulation card.

The reason I'm writing this is to share the brilliant logic behind her decision to accept the $12 book over the $25 gift card. Here's what she said:

"It'll get me more than that $25 will anytime!"

I almost cried when she said that. First, I was impressed by her foresight. Second, I knew that it was possible because I'd done it myself. Third, (and this is the sad part) if I gave all my contest winners the choice between the $25 gift card and the book, I'm fairly certain that 9 out of 10 people would choose the gift card.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. ~ Chinese proverb

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