Stigma of gift receipts is diminishing, survey finds

To ensure that recipients are happy with holiday gifts, millions of Americans will rely on gift receipts to enable loved ones to return or exchange a gift seamlessly when the holidays are over. According to National Retail Federation’s 2009 Holiday Returns Survey, 58.6 percent of shoppers said they enclose a gift receipt most of the time or some of the time when giving a gift. The survey also found that 87.9 percent of shoppers feel that retailers’ return policies are fair.

Although gift receipts make returns easy, many people didn’t need to return a thing last holiday season. According to the survey, more than two-thirds (67.1%) of gift recipients said they did not return any gifts last year, up from the 65.2 percent who went sans returns in 2007.

Image: Ivan Prole, www.sxc.hu