Thursday, May 03, 2007

Britons Waste £1.25billion on Annual Gadget Giving

Yeah, gadgets are cool, but I never said buy them. And I particularly never said buy them for people who won't use them. Preposterous, right? Who wouldn't want a digital camera? Or an iPod?

Well, the answer, according to a recent survey of 500 adults in Britain, is that a full 22 percent of electronic gadgets that are given as gifts are never used. The average price for each unused gadget in each unopened box is around £120. And this is not just chuckable stuff, like Coleco-like handheld games and obtuse computer games. Number one is the Apple iPod, followed by digital cameras, computer software, satellite navigation systems and mobile phones.

The survey states that the reason people don't use this stuff is that they are 'scared of technology', 'have no time', and/or 'can't read instruction book'. Okey-dokey; these would be three good questions to ask a giftee ahead of time. Occam's razor rules the day here - when you don't know what to give, give money, or gift cards. Gifts are fun, but (adults), please drop the pretense and reserve gift-giving for the kids, who have undoubtedly been screaming about getting some particular gadget since their last birthday.

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