This being the Holiday season, a peculiar phenomenon has been popping up. This phenomenon? Regifting. The concept reaises some intriguing questions, some of which I hope to entice you with.
Situation 1: You are given a gift card to, say, Wal-Mart. You have your reasons for not shopping at Wal-Mart, small businesses being run into the ground, low wages, exploitation of labor, yadda. We could assume that the person who gave you the gift card should have known that, but we won't play that game. So...you decide to give the gift card to someone else. Is this regifting? Is it wrong?
Situation 2: You are poor. You love to give people presents, bringing people material goods gives you great joy, but you cannot afford to. Someone gives you a gift card, hoping to bring you joy. You go to the store, and spend the gift card balance on presents for other people. You get joy out of this situation, which is what the original giver intended, but the actual material goods are not to go to you. Is this regifting? Is it wrong?
Situation 3: Similar to situation 2 in that you are poor and giving gifts brings you joy more than receiving things. However, you do not know what to give someone, so you give them the gift card that was given to you. Is this regifting? Is it wrong?
Just some holiday-flavored confusing ramblings from some tech aide or another with too much time to think about meaningless things. I'd love to hear your opinions, though, and any other interesting situations that you can think of.
-Amy
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2 comments:
I pick situation number 2.
I would use the gift to buy gifts for others. If I like to give gifts than the original gift is "more of a gift". It makes me feel good that they thought enough to give a gift that would alow me to give to others.
Question:
Do I get a gift for the person that gave me the gift certificate with $$$ from certificate? If so, how much will I spend??
Am I supposed to predict your spending habits? I'm no Nostradamus.
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