为什么在美国会有各种适用于各个公司/超市/卖场的 Gift Card 销售？ Gift Card 有什么存在的意义？

Giving money is generally considered inappropriate in America (with exceptions, such as a wedding gift or a graduation gift).

Although people are likely happy to receive money, there is a social expectation to give personalized gifts. For example, if you know a person likes gardening, you can give her/him a pair of gardening gloves; but if you don't know if she/he actually wants a pair of gloves, then you might give her/him a gift card to Home Depot so that she/he can buy what she/he wants. Although the gift card is less convenient and more restrictive than cash, the message it sends is that you picked out a gift card based on what you know about the person.

Gift cards are a thin social veneer to make giving money more socially acceptable.

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As always, if you have the courage and patience to translate this into Chinese, then go for it!

我来翻译

的回答：

美国人一般觉得直接送钱不合适，除非是婚礼红包或毕业礼物。

虽然人们都喜欢直接收钱，不过其实人们也很期望收到用心的礼物。例如，你知道对方喜欢园艺，你就可以送他一副园艺手套；但是如果你不知道他到底需不需要手套的话，你可以送他一张园艺商店的礼物卡，他就可以自己去买他需要的东西。虽然礼物卡不如直接送现金方便，但它传达的信息是，你是对对方有一定的了解才去挑选礼物的。

礼物卡就是这样一种比直接送钱更委婉的社交手段。

换言之比起 iTunes Store 的礼品卡，那些领域更窄的专门商店，如画材、五金等，可能意义会更明显。