The surprisingly selfish reason people give terrible gifts

It’s a question that has bedeviled all too many of us: how to deal with loved ones who just keep giving us bad gifts. 

The National Retail Federation estimates that last winter, about $966 billion worth of merchandise was sold over the holiday period — and about $148 billion of that likely returned. A survey from consumer research firm CivicScience showed that 28 percent of people had returned or exchanged a gift last year. According to Statista, the most wanted Christmas gift among US consumers is cold hard cash.