Gift Giving Efficiency

Giving gifts (Birthday, Xmas, etc.) can have all kinds of baggage attached - conditional stuff. Was it expensive enough, was it thoughtful enough, was it equal or less than the last gift received from the person..... the list goes on and on.

I think many of us give gifts that we would want to get - hence a GPS system for the wife :) Or opera tickets from the wife :) It's hard to get gifts for certain people - especially the older they are and the richer they are - after all they already have everything.

That is when gift giving can be a chore. Invariably I get "tapped" for giving the "male" gifts to the nephews, uncles etc. Gift giving can take alot of time to figure out especially when the relative or friend is remote with little contact.

And there is a 80% chance that whatever gift is purchased will either be returned, not used, or "re-gifted". That is probably the reason gift cards are so popular - no real thought needed (other than forcing a particular store), no extra effort to find the item in inventory, no decisions on size/product type, no need for receiver to return the item, and transfer of all that decision making process to the receiver. no big package to wrap - how efficient -- whew!

The only thing less thoughtful but greatly appreciated - hard cash :)