Steven Reed Johnson
Portland, Oregon USA
Touch and Go
Blog
what do you do with those things that don’t pan out, or bad gifts? You have a White Elephant Gift exchange or Re-gifting party or in some cases just ship it overseas
Thailand Sojourn
Chapter #18
America’s White Elephant Gift Exchanges
The Dark Side of Long Tail Economics
Throwing a Re-gifting Party isn’t as tacky as it sounds. It’s not about deliberately re-gifting a present to friends. It is a chance to free one’s home from the clutter of those “oh-you-shouldn’t-have” gifts; prune whip filled chocolates, cocktail napkins of puppies in Santa hats, or sweaters depicting religious scenes in sequin appliqué.
A Head Spa
There are 15,000 KFCs world wide. Only about 5,000 of those are in America
There are 39,000 7/11s worldwide. Only 8,200 of those are in America. (Keeping in mind 7/11 is now Japanese owned)
Remember Bugles? I suppose they are still sold in America but I see them here in Thailand more frequently.
The Insidious side of the “gift” exchange.
From the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education:
"Pesticides that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has judged too dangerous for domestic use, pesticides which are unsafe unless used under strict supervision, and pesticides never evaluated by EPA are routinely shipped from US ports.
Many of these chemicals are bound for destinations in the developing world, where it has long been established that prevailing conditions-a lack of protective equipment, unsafe application and storage practices, inadequate training of pesticide applicators-increase their hazards."
Grade B Movies. Movie not make it in America? Ship that overseas too. True Vision, a cable operator in Bangkok has a channel with Sci Fi and Action flicks that are so campy they are almost fun to watch.
