Amazon is attempting to cut back on gift returns by enabling a program that would automatically detect less deired gifts and switch them to fit the recipients' tastes. Although the program is currently not available, Amazon customers can assume that soon they will be able to enter their gift preferences and flag certain gift givers as potentially giving bad gifts. This program has another service which will automatically send a 'Thank you' note to the sender.
Undoubtedly, Amazon is receiving a lot of grief after announcing this program will be available. Although gift exchange has transformed over the years, people still believe that a gift holds sentimental value. This program takes the feeling out of the gift and focuses only on the material item. It also takes out the energy and feeling a person has as he or she writes a 'Thank you' note.
Amazon is pushing consumerism to an unreasonable level. There is no denying that many people receive gifts and later send them back, yet this is extreme even for the most materialistic people. However, the success or failure of this tool will not be known until after it is released. It may have shocking popularity or extreme failure just as many 'etiquette' journalists predict.
