How would you feel about receiving a secondhand gift? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Massachusetts Street on December 5, 2011

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“I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

— Jacob Berggren, accounting major, Lawrence

“I would tell them to take it back”

— Ashley Ho, medical transcription and nursing major, Lawrence

“I would kind of have a problem with it. ”

— Brian Mann, respiratory care major, Lawrence

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pure_republication 1 year, 6 months ago

Got them for years and enjoyed them!

Loki 1 year, 6 months ago

Depends, if undergarments, there would me some concerns!!! Food products, teeth marks would take away from the festive feel. Other then that, I'm not materialistic and wouldn't care.

misterlee 1 year, 6 months ago

Antiques and collectables? Christmas is a great time to pass on family heirlooms instead of giving some new crap from stores. I'd rather not give into the commercialism of Christmas unless it's buying things for myself at bargain prices this time of year..

Did_I_say_that 1 year, 6 months ago

“I would tell them to take it back”

We were planning on giving you great grandmother's 1.5 Karat diamond necklace this Christmas; but, we didn't want to disappoint you. So, we got you this brand new Christmas card instead. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Love, Dad and Mom

otto 1 year, 6 months ago

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 6 months ago

"a second hand .264 Win. Mag..hey, not a bad deal"

Yeah, if you want to spend the $600 to re barrel it because of the throat erosion...

beatrice 1 year, 6 months ago

Yuk. You should keep it out of your throat altogether!

riverdrifter 1 year, 6 months ago

Now that's funny!

raerae 1 year, 6 months ago

All vintage and antiques are "second-hand" and I welcome them!

labmonkey 1 year, 6 months ago

Autie couldn't have said it better. There are some kickass tools dad has bought at auctions I also wouldn't mind having.

labmonkey 1 year, 6 months ago

I had a friend who once worked at Alvamar... his boss gave him a really nice, graphite shaft driver, so he gave me the one he had. Big improvement over the one I had.

(I like playing golf, but I don't play it enough to warrant spending hundreds of dollars on clubs... I got my irons at a flea market for $10 and they work great).

kernal 1 year, 6 months ago

You wanted something new, so here's a brand spankin' new piece of coal just for you!

Did_I_say_that 1 year, 6 months ago

I thought coal was several thousand (or million) years old.

rockchalker52 1 year, 6 months ago

Always graciously accept the secondhand gift as that means you already have a gift in the firsthand & two gifts are better than one. I can also pick one up with my feet & balance another on my head.

nocrybabies 1 year, 6 months ago

It's the thought that counts. Beyond that it's only materialism.

ST3V3N 1 year, 6 months ago

Thank You. I was afraid nobody was gonna say that.

RoeDapple 1 year, 6 months ago

I knowed a dude with a foot and a half . . . . . . . One gots mangled in the mower . . .

cait48 1 year, 6 months ago

My father lost his dominant hand in a train accident when I was two years old. He lived for another forty years after that. Often, my sisters and I were his "second hand". But don't let that fool you. In that forty years he continued to work for the railroad, farmed a small ten acres, built a cabin to use as his art studio and since he could no longer draw (as it was his DOMINANT hand that he lost) he turned to sculpture. He also made hand made furniture, refinished antique furniture, owned an antique store and in his later years got into dune buggy racing and could change out a buggy engine overnight. Oh and did I mention he loved to hunt and fish? He had no problems tromping off into the wilderness alone with himself and his dog. (At one time he gave classes in wilderness survival through Communiversity. I still have a series of cassette tapes he made to go with the course.) Can we say over compensation?

psycho_theclown 1 year, 6 months ago

I'm thinking that Heidi Klum would qualify as seconhand.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 6 months ago

I'm cool with it.

pace 1 year, 6 months ago

I find second hand items are often better quality than new. I certainly find more bang for the buck. I admit to liking history and antiques. What an idiot to say they would reject a gift from a friend or family if it wasn't new. No upbringing, crass. I have received gifts that were neither sustainable or useful, but I appreciated the effort and gesture. I do think for me, the best gift is a gift of time and attention. All I really want is to have time with the people I love. My dad use to buy us great presents, he also use to drag us around with him on trips of discovery, those journeys are still with me, the joy hearing him sing or tell his stupid jokes really lasts. Listening to my daughter describe where her Dad took her on a walk was just a wonderful gift.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 6 months ago

"There ain't no Santa Claus" - My Life

Was too, and through some, his spirit lives on today..

beatrice 1 year, 6 months ago

I suspect they meant "regifting," as in giving a gift you received but didn't like. Antiques and heirlooms aren't really an issue.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 6 months ago

bea, It is about second hand articles.
Story that generated question : http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/dec...

RoeDapple 1 year, 6 months ago

Barbra sez it best

Barbra Streisand: Second Hand Rose by MrKingsRow

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 6 months ago

Roed...

merrill 1 year, 6 months ago

“You can find amazing things that are really specific to a person,” Hartnett said. “It’s not special to anyone just sitting in here. But once you give it as a gift to a loved one, then it becomes a re-heirloom, in a way.”

Want to shop secondhand but don’t know how?

Here’s some advice.

merrill 1 year, 6 months ago

Secondhand items make first-rate gifts

“My entire Xmas list cost me $160. If I’d bought it all retail it would have been $1,700,” boasts one thrifty Mrs. on her blog.

Find presents with a past at thrift shops and estate sales By LISA GUTIERREZ The Kansas City Star

Lydia Friz of Kansas City scoured the housewares in a booth at the monthly Urban Mining Homewares sale. She was shopping for a holiday present for her mother.

Looks like Santa’s got a new bag this holiday season. With spending money tight for so many people, secondhand gifts are getting a strong second look.

Savvy shoppers call them “well-loved treasures”: stuff you can buy at swap meets, estate sales, moving sales, auctions, antique and vintage shops, consignment and thrift stores and on websites.

Online message boards are brimming with frugal buyers who have decided to give only gifts from secondhand sources this year. “My entire Xmas list cost me $160. If I’d bought it all retail it would have been $1,700,” boasts one thrifty Mrs. on her blog.

Even regifting seems to be taking on a certain cachet — just as long as everyone is in on the game. And Black Friday madness has hit thrift stores nationwide, with shops keeping extended hours.

Lydia Friz is a pro at shopping for secondhand gifts. The Blue Bird Bistro waitress shopped the Urban Mining Homewares sale earlier this month. At the First Friday vintage market she bought her mom a set of eight china bowls, daintily sized for ice cream. Total cost: $24.

She also found a pretty glass perfume bottle for $8, a Christmas gift for her sister-in-law, a fragrance buff.

merrill 1 year, 6 months ago

Reuse,Recycle,Regift What does it matter? A gift is a gift is a gift is a gift.....

“I would tell them to take it back” and that might be the last gift received from the giver. So be it.

May I suggest something new and/or antique vintage that can be purchased downtown ? Can we say new at Weavers.

Consider USA Fiestaware for Christmas that serves some 1100 USA families as employees

Specializing in high-fired, lead- free glazes with an Alpha Alumina body, Homer Laughlin remains the largest domestic pottery employing over 1100 skilled workers in a 37 acre facility.

merrill 1 year, 6 months ago

Some second gifts will appreciate in value or retain their value.

Most new gifts will depreciate handsomely as one walks out the door of store where purchased.

RoeDapple 1 year, 6 months ago

Last time I tried to buy downtown the salesman said,"We could order it for you . . ." . . Well . . . . I could order it for me . . . . For less . . . . and did.

riverdrifter 1 year, 6 months ago

A few years back my nephew gave me a knee-length Pendelton wool skier's shell that he found on Ebay. Stole it for thirty bucks. Right now I figure it's worth $250. I love it and no, it ain't for sale. Used is perfectly good if thought out and done right.

classclown 1 year, 6 months ago

Some gifts are meant to be that way. Chia Pet, The Clapper, fruitcake. Just recognize them for the gag gifts that they are and pass them on to some other sucker next year.

Some of the comments leave me to believe that the people would have a problem with a gift that was new, but not good enough.