SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2007
Monday Edition: The Art and Science of Re-Gifting
Chances are, you have received a gift in the past that you know someone else would like better. So you "regift," or give it to someone else.
Dec. 20 is National Regifting Day (OK, it is not a national holiday -- it was
decreed to be National Regifting Day by Money Management
International.)
After conducting a poll of more than 1,000 people, MMI learned that:
Reasons for regifting have changed
- The
majority of people (62%) say they regift because they think the item is
something the recipient would really like; this is up from 53% who
answered similarly in 2005.
- More than 4 in 10 people
(42%) say that they regift to save money; this is up 27% since 2005
when only 33% claimed to regift for monetary reasons.
Regift recipients are named
- About 4 in 10 regifters (41%) named coworkers as the recipients of their regifts.
- Family members and friends were also named by 41% each as an answer to the multiple response question.
- Other responses included:
- Teachers – 18%
- Significant other – 12%
Regifting is becoming more accepted
- More than half (60%) of Americans think regifting is becoming more accepted.
- One in four (25%) of people think regifting is becoming more acceptable because it is a way to save money on holiday expenses.
- Another 14% believe that regifting is more acceptable because it is a method of recycling.
Most regift recipients are not offended
- More than 4 in 10 (42%) regift recipients said that they don’t really care that they were given a regift.
- Another 18% of regift recipients said they felt happy or amused to receive a regift.
- Less than 10% of regift recipients said they felt cheated or angry to receive a regift.
U.S. News & World Report addresses the etiquette of regifting:
Make sure the recipient will like it. Most people who regift do
so because the gift is perfect for someone else (77 percent), which is
what gift giving is all about. "You don't want the recipient to have
any feeling at all that you are giving them the castoff," says Peggy
Post, etiquette expert and author of Excuse Me, But I Was Next. "At the
bottom of all this, it's all about being respectful and considerate."
Post is an admitted regifter. In one instance she received two copies
of the same book and gave one unwrapped copy to her mother-in-law after
explaining the entire situation. It's also acceptable to regift when
you are absolutely certain the recipient would like to have that gift,
Post says.
Regift to different social circles. If you're going to regift,
you need to do it outside of the social circle where you originally
received the gift. Some 29 percent of regift recipients recognized the
regift because they were present when the gift was first given. "If you
were given something by someone in your church group, give it to
someone in your school group," says Marsha Collier, a Los Angles-based
eBay expert and admitted regifter. "Always send out a thank you note
right away and put a Post-it on it so you don't regive it to the same
circle of friends."
Make sure it's new. Leon Foerster, an insurance agent in Ripon,
Wis., recalls receiving an 8-track player full of cobwebs as a wedding
gift – a sure tip-off something is not new. Post recommends you don't
regift anything that does not come with its original packaging and
instructions. The least you can do is rewrap the gift and put a fresh
card on it. A full 16 percent of regifters were spotted because the
gift tag had the wrong name on it, Tassimo found. You never want to
give away a gift the original giver took great care to select, Post
says, such as a homemade sweater or scarf. You should also hold on to
handmade and one-of-a kind items. The most common regifted items,
Tassimo found, are decorative household knickknacks like vases,
paintings, and picture frames.
Should you resell? This seems
to be a step beyond proper regifting etiquette. Selling a gift
on eBay, especially right after the holidays, seems crass to me. I would
like to hear from you on this point.
Regiftable.com says you should never regift something that someone made for you. Here are some other tips:
Is the gift regiftable? Never
regift handmade or one-of-a-kind items. Signed books and monogrammed
items are off-limits. Do you have to be told not to regift free
promotional items? Some gifts that are good candidates for regifting
include good (unopened!) bottles of wine, new household items and
inexpensive jewelry.
How is the condition? Only
new, unopened gifts in good condition should be considered for
regifting. Never give partially used gift cards. Don’t give items
that you have owned for a long time. A general rule of thumb: if you
have to dust it off, it is not regiftable.
Is this going to work? Successful
regifters use common sense. If you are going to regift, be sure you
know who gave you the item, so you don’t return something to the
original giver. Only regift items to people who are not likely to see
the original giver.
Do you have good intentions?
Don’t just give a gift to give a gift. Be sure that the recipient will
appreciate the item. Remember, if you feel that an item is
undesirable, the recipient probably will too. If you are regifting
simply because you ran out of time, gift cards are simple to obtain and
always well received.
How does it look?
When it comes to gift-giving, go for show! While gift bags in good
condition can be reused, wrapping paper is a one-time thing. Always
spring for a new card or gift tag.
Can you handle it?
If you don’t plan to announce the gift as a regift, ask yourself if you
can keep the secret. Never feel guilty about regifting once you’ve
done it.
Have you considered your options? An unwanted gift could be a welcome donation to a charitable organization. It is also an option to suck it up and keep an unwanted gift—after all, it was a gift.
Host a Regifting Party
During regifting parties, everybody gets to recycle the stuff they don't like.
Reselling Your Gifts
No doubt, some of what sells on eBay and Craigslist in the weeks after
Christmas are gifts that recipients either don't want or don't need. You might check with
an eBay broker about this.
Guilt-Free Regifting -- the 'Freecycle' Way
Here is a way to regift without feeling bad. Just give the gift away through freecycle.org. "Freecycling" is a movement that recycles good stuff to people in your neighborhood. The giving has to be free.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 11:04:27 PM
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