There's no such thing as a free puppy...

[Weird Harold]

... is an old saying that means that some gifts impose a continuing commitment/obligation on the recipient.

That saying came to mind today when I cought four commercial back to back -- Garmin GPS sytems, Sirius Satelite Radio, DirctTV, and XM satelite radio -- all advocating their equipment as the "ideal gift" and all of which are useless without a continuing subscription.

I also see a lot of people talking about giving Wii systems or other game systems for christmas -- again, equipement that's pretty useless without a continuing commitment to buy new games.

So are you giving (or expect to get) any unplanned commitments for Christmas or are you sticking with just giving cash or gift cards?

 

[starrkers]

No unplanned commitments here - just ongoing support for old ones

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I have only one committment, WH. That's my committment to Linny which will go on forever.

JJ

 

[Weird Harold]

I have only one committment, WH. That's my committment to Linny which will go on forever.

JJ

That's entirely beside the point -- are you giving anyone a gift that will stop working if they don't renew a subscription? Or do you expect to get one?

 

[impressive]

That's entirely beside the point -- are you giving anyone a gift that will stop working if they don't renew a subscription? Or do you expect to get one?

According to my youngest, "Santa" is bringing me a Nintendo DS Lite. Why? I've no fucking clue. It will require games, though, if it's to be of any use.

 

[Weird Harold]

According to my youngest, "Santa" is bringing me a Nintendo DS Lite. Why? I've no fucking clue. It will require games, though, if it's to be of any use.

And batteries, don't forget the batteries.

 

[impressive]

And batteries, don't forget the batteries.

Naw. The DS has rechargeable doo-dads built in.

 

[Varian P]

I am known far and wide as a holiday, birthday, and miscellaneous gift-giving occasion scrooge, as I never buy presents, and forewarn all new friends that I don't wish to receive them, either.

With rare exception, the equation seems to go something like:

friend's anxiety over what to get + torture of making the rounds of the stores + taking on more debt than s/he can really afford = me having something I never wanted and now have to take to Goodwill.

Skip Black Friday, I say, and let's just get together for drinks and enjoy each others' company.

 

[rgraham666]

I am known far and wide as a holiday, birthday, and miscellaneous gift-giving occasion scrooge, as I never buy presents, and forewarn all new friends that I don't wish to receive them, either.

With rare exception, the equation seems to go something like:

friend's anxiety over what to get + torture of making the rounds of the stores + taking on more debt than s/he can really afford = me having something I never wanted and now have to take to Goodwill.

Skip Black Friday, I say, and let's just get together for drinks and enjoy each others' company.

Seconded. I'll be right over.

 

[Varian P]

Seconded. I'll be right over.

I'll throw another log on the fire.

 

[rgraham666]

I'll throw another log on the fire.

Cool.

 

[SlickTony]

Let's see...my son, whom the people at the Florida Lit-together met, has to choose whether he's going to get a Wii with his Christmas money, or a new iPod. The one he has has become iffy--he has to hold his mouth just so to get the computer to recognize it or to download new songs to it. He wants Photoshop, but it turns out he wants the big deluxe Photoshop. That costs a grand. Ain't happenin'.

Other than that, I don't think anyone else is getting anything like that. My daughter is getting a few pairs of earrings and a scarf. You can hardly go wrong with earrings. My husband told me what he wanted. The only problem is finding 33x36 jeans without having to order them on line. He's also getting socks. Well, if you're the type who loses every ring and breaks every watch, and doesn't like to read, you've got to expect a certain number of socks, although I might get him a bottle of Islay scotch.

My mother is currently the worst one to try and get gifts for. I'd found a cute pair of elephant earrings at Beall's I was going to give her, because she collects elephant stuff, and one day I was talking to her and she told me about this custom-made pair of gold earrings she paid $900 for...

 

[Liar]

I've been on a spree to markets, corner shops, ethnic food stores and finer delicatessens to rind rare and tasty chocolate, coffee, oils, preserves, spices, cigars, candy, snacks and wines. Put in little baskets with cellophane wrapping and a red ribbon on top.

All my christmas presents this year are consumeable. So the only obligations I'm giving to people are that some of them may actually have to cook.

And a few rounds on the treadmill for those who got the chocolate.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Now why would anybody want to give something like that?? My kids have come to expect things like BOOKS! (Which is a shock to most people's system - who ever heard of giving books for birthdays and holidays?)

Or maybe Lincoln Logs, Legos, blocks, dolls, toy cars (no remotes, thankyouverymuch), project packets (cross stitch kits, potholder weaving thingies), K'Nex, glue together wooden dinosaur skeletons, and things of that nature. You know, stuff that uses imagination and thinking skills. Let everybody else get them the shit that rots their brains. I'm trying to save them.

 

[jomar]

*sigh*

Xbox 360 for the boy and one game, then he's on his own. And the SO gets an XM radio subscription for the vehicle.

We tend to give gifts that carry over to birthdays because they get expensive, as in, "You want a new laptop computer? That'll be two Christmases and a birthday a half."

 

[Weird Harold]

...And the SO gets an XM radio subscription for the vehicle.

I think that's kindof the opposite of what I was thinking about -- you're not giving something that needs a subscription, you're giving a subscription to keep something the SO already has working fo anoher year.

We tend to give gifts that carry over to birthdays because they get expensive, as in, "You want a new laptop computer? That'll be two Christmases and a birthday a half."

I've given a few budget busting gifts that were "this'll be your christmas present, too" but I always wind up giving something small and cheap anyway.

 

[Lisa Denton]

... is an old saying that means that some gifts impose a continuing commitment/obligation on the recipient.

That saying came to mind today when I cought four commercial back to back -- Garmin GPS sytems, Sirius Satelite Radio, DirctTV, and XM satelite radio -- all advocating their equipment as the "ideal gift" and all of which are useless without a continuing subscription.

I also see a lot of people talking about giving Wii systems or other game systems for christmas -- again, equipement that's pretty useless without a continuing commitment to buy new games.

So are you giving (or expect to get) any unplanned commitments for Christmas or are you sticking with just giving cash or gift cards?

Harold sometimes you can get the person the gift PLUS BATTERIES.

Here is an example. There was some kinda relative, a third cousin's niece's daughters mothers sister-in-law or some shit. Anyways, its a 17 year old, or 18, or something kid with a beat up old car and she has some part time college and a part time job, both a pretty long drive.

The relatives all get together and buy a nice used car for a gift but I knew the insurance payments would kill the kid. At that age and needing full coverage, not just liability insurance, her payments on insurance or her parents payments if added to thier policies would be high.

Simplicity, talked to her fathers insurance agent about adding the kid and the car, yes it needed some info and the final papers couldn't be made up until the kid got the car. The insurance agent spent time to get everything ready and give us the full approximate price because he knew it was a possible sale, a probable sale, because the kid would just need to come in and finish up the final paperwork with a check made out to his company for a years full coverage.

There was a snag, as per usual, but the kid didn't have to pay more she walked out with 15 bucks change.

To finish up we got a certificate for oil change, tune up and check up stuffs at a dealership near her work so she could drop the car off and walk to work.

I am sure if you had a subcription for one of the things you are talking about, and tell a rep you are wanting to include a year long subscription amount to the person you are giving it to, they will spend the time to give you a close price.

I never give a battery operated toy to a kid without batteries, or a battery operated toy to an adult without batteries.

 

[Weird Harold]

I am sure if you had a subcription for one of the things you are talking about, and tell a rep you are wanting to include a year long subscription amount to the person you are giving it to, they will spend the time to give you a close price.

I never give a battery operated toy to a kid without batteries, or a battery operated toy to an adult without batteries.

Most of the things I mentioned in the original post can't be purchased without an initial one year service agreement. But like batteries, service contracts run down and have to be replaced eventually.

I like the idea of giving a "starving student" a break on car insurance and/or car maintenance. I've done something similar by adding an additional dial-up service to to my ISP bill for my younger daughter to insure that she had continuous internet access, but I did I in such a way that I assumed the commitment for renewals, rather than giving her a "free sample" that she had to pay up or give up at the end of the service agreement.

 

[Lisa Denton]

Most of the things I mentioned in the original post can't be purchased without an initial one year service agreement. But like batteries, service contracts run down and have to be replaced eventually.

I like the idea of giving a "starving student" a break on car insurance and/or car maintenance. I've done something similar by adding an additional dial-up service to to my ISP bill for my younger daughter to insure that she had continuous internet access, but I did I in such a way that I assumed the commitment for renewals, rather than giving her a "free sample" that she had to pay up or give up at the end of the service agreement.

Um, rechargeable batteries?

Just makin suggestions to help Harold, I throw out all the eggnog, fruitcakes, and lovely free gifts I need to purchase after christmas myself. A relative bought me a sattelite dish for that tv stuff over a year ago, even mounted it on the roof of the house. I don't watch much TV and finding out how much it costs per month is not on my to-do list, but climbing up on a ladder and taking that piece of crap down is on my list.