We were just laying on the couch and watching our local evening news.
In the middle of our complete relaxation (you know that droning, white-noise kind of experience the news provides), a statistic caught our attention: 60% of people don’t return unwanted gifts. When interviewed they said the main reason was that they didn’t want to hurt the gift-givers’ feelings. Yeah, right! We think it’s more than likely laziness! No, we’re not casting aspersion on you, fair reader, we’re just looking deep inside and being honest.
We received a DVD as a gift this year… some shoot-em-up we’d already seen. Just went to the mega-bookstore, said, “I got this as a gift, have already seen it, and I have no receipt.” That store’s policy? To give a store credit in the amount of the merchandise. Twenty bucks in our pocket! (Enough to convert into our book and a latte.)
This may seem tasteless, but it’s reality. Get off your ass and return what you don’t want. If you feel guilty, tell yourself that anyone who loves you wants you to actually enjoy their present—and wants you to live in a home uncluttered with crap.
And remember it’s a kindness to enclose gift receipts with presents. Don’t worry… your exchanges can’t be traced back to the gift-giver! Meaning no one’s ever going to know that you swapped Susan Boyle’s blockbuster CD for (your secret passion) Boyz to Men.
So, if you’ve got something you don’t like or have no use for—bring it back. Don’t wait any longer just do it. NOW!!
I think regifting is AWESOME! Hello.. If someone doesn’t know me well enough to pick something that I will like then they probably don’t know me well enough to even CARE if I swap it out for something I do like. I mean, in the end it started out from them and I know its something I love! Now.. this has bitten me in the arse before when someone asked me about a god awful gift that I no longer had. They were a little disappointed at first but then they were happy I was able to get something that suited me better! It is pretty standard for anyone that knows me to know that if I don’t like it, it will end up either donated to the homeless shelter thift store ( I happen to work at the homeless shelter) or swapped out for something totally cool. I do try to keep my swaps limit to similar items unless they are just too awful!
In my opinion, a lot of people are overly concerned with the gift itself then the manner it was given. I appreciate EVERY gift I am given because it means someone took the time to think enough of me, regardless of how well they know me, to get me something to begin with.
Hmm. Interesting point. The question is: what if the gift doesn’t fit or you’ll never use it? Do you think there was a time, before we became such a disposable society, that people took more care in selecting each gift?
We were taught to appreciate the thought behind the gift and so returns were only due to size type issues…not to say there weren’t some that were donated to the thrift shop.