Big gift of 2019

A new survey says 77 percent of shoppers are sure they'll get at least one. Then a lot of it will wind up in Delaware. Also, 7 other things worth reading.

I’m Bill Murphy Jr. Welcome to Understandably. Thanks for reading.

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It’s a short holiday shopping season this year, so let’s get right to it and identify the hot gift of 2019.

Ready? Gift cards.

I was so disappointed to hear this, but it’s true—at least according to a survey of 3,000 U.S. consumers that found:

• On average shoppers will spend about $213.49 on gift cards this year (up 7 percent from 2018)

• 77 percent of shoppers are confident they’ll buy at least one gift card

• Across the board, gift cards will make up more than one-third of the total spent on holiday gifts (35 percent to be exact) .

Billions and billions

Now, not that I haven’t enjoyed a good gift card in my day — and certainly I’ve given my share — but it seems to me this is getting a bit out of hand.

Let’s zero in on the money that gets spent on gift cards but is never actually used for anything.

A profes…