Originally Posted by Bah Humbug

This is why AG and I literally don't surprise each other with gifts. Economists will actually tell you that gift-giving, as at Christmas or birthdays, is inefficient: depending on which study you look at, between 10% and 30% of a gift's value is wasted (in terms of price vs value to the recipient). Great for the holiday-industrial complex; terrible for your wallet and happiness. It's much better to make sure that if you buy someone a gift, it's something they would do for themselves. The exception would be things like how I would likely not actually buy myself an R5 (or P5X), but if AG paid that premium for a gift (she doesn't read this so it's not a hint, and I'm not getting a new bike until the new DA drops and we see what Shimano's next direction is), I'd cherish and enjoy that great bike that I wouldn't buy myself. Those are rare cases, though; most surprise gifts are things the recipient doesn't want as much as they cost, and thus are stupid and wasteful. It gets worse the wealthier you are, because you're more likely to have already bought yourself the things you find valuable for the cost.