Why a late gift isn't as bad as you almost certainly think – and late is best than never

If you're anxious about finding the best gift and ensuring the recipient receives it on time, you're not alone. More than half of Americans say that Gift giving stresses her out.

Concerns about on-time delivery are so widespread that folks share holidays Deadlines for every shipping service. And in case you possibly can't meet these deadlines, there are actually practical ones Etiquette Guides Providing advice to tell the recipient.

If you sent late gifts, thanks Delivery delays, depleted supplies and even good quaint Procrastinationour latest research could offer some encouraging news.

In a series of studies forthcoming within the Journal of Consumer Psychology, we found that folks overestimate the negative consequences of a delayed gift.

I attempt to follow norms

Why do people are inclined to overestimate these consequences? Our results show that folks pay more attention to gift giving to the donation norms because the recipients.

For example, other researchers have found that folks are inclined to be reluctant to present used products as gifts because there’s a norm that gifts must be latest. However, in point of fact, many persons are often open to receiving used items.

We found that this discrepancy also applies to beliefs concerning the importance of timing. Many people fear that a late gift will signal that they don't care concerning the recipient. They then fear that their relationship will suffer.

In reality, these fears are largely unfounded. Gift recipients are much less anxious about when the gift will arrive.

Unfortunately, excessive sensitivity when giving a late gift cannot only cause unnecessary worry, but in addition influence the alternative of gift.

Compensate for delays

To test how delay concerns affect gift selections, we conducted an internet study ahead of Mother's Day in 2021. 201 adults took part in a raffle. They could either send their mother a less expensive gift basket that arrived in time for the occasion or a costlier one which arrived late.

Concerns about delay led to almost 70% of participants selecting the cheaper and faster option.

In one other study, we conducted the identical variety of raffle for Father's Day and got similar results.

Aside from people selecting low-quality items to make sure faster delivery, we also found that givers may feel like they’ll make up for the delay with effort.

In one other online study of 805 adults, we found that participants were less prone to expect a delayed delivery to harm a relationship after they expressed their take care of the recipient in other ways. For example, they believed that assembling an item by hand moderately than purchasing it pre-assembled could make up for a late delivery of a present.

Better late than never?

If sending something late isn't as bad as expected, you could be wondering if it's okay to only not send anything in any respect.

We would caution against going this route.

In one other online study of 903 participants, we found that recipients felt that receiving nothing in any respect could be more damaging to a relationship than receiving something as much as two months late.

This implies that late is best than never for the recipient.

You might need to keep this in mind, even when it's latest Games console, Action figure or Virtual reality headset is sold out this Christmas season. It could still be a welcome surprise when it arrives in January or February.