Economic discussion question - No minimum

No minimum -only  short paragraph as needed

Comment on the below discussion:

 Joel Waldfogel wrote an article several years ago by this title. "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas" American Economic Review December 1993.  The article discusses value loss. While I am certainly not anti Christmas I don't like to see value loss. I find myself giving more cash gifts especially if you don't know the exact tastes of the person you are giving the gift to. I am sure everyone has a story about a gift they have received without a gift receipt that they can't use or don't like. I will cite 1 example-we had a relative give us a fancy corkscrew and wine chill bag for Christmas. I have been in the wine business for many years so have plenty of corkscrews and don't like the wine chill bags. Anyway no gift receipt. I traced the item back to Kohls-with a little detective work. Since no receipt we received the lowest sale price the company has ever offered the items for. Probably about 60% off. I know stores sell many items at a discount but I think I received less than the person paid. What would have been a better gift? Cash? I could tell more stories but won't bore you. You even have to be careful with gift cards/gift certificates. They may expire, get lost, a person may not like the restaurant, a person may have a 50 gift card to a restaurant spend 48 and throw the card away etc., I have given several gift cards to Wegmans however as they don't expire and I knew the people I gave to shopped there.