‘Tis the season for gifting gadgets
With the arrival of the gift giving season, many of us may be considering buying some kind of technology for our loved ones. According to Statistics Canada, in December 2017, Canadians purchased $444.7 million in televisions and home audiovisual equipment, and $464.4 million in computers and related equipment. Large retailers like Apple, Amazon, Walmart, and Costco earn billions of dollars in what analysts refer to as the “holiday quarter” – the last four months of the year which include pre-Christmas sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as post-Christmas sales such as those during the week of Boxing Day. In Canada during 2021, consumer electronics made up approximately 28% of online sales.
In the United States, $173 billion worth of purchased items are expected to be returned during the holiday rush. Of those returns, stores will either stock and resell the items, sell those items to a liquidator for auction, or simply send those items to be recycled or to a landfill. All of these options have an environmental impact, whether it’s the fuel and emissions involved in the manufacture, creation, and moving of that item, the resources used to recycle that item, or the chemicals and byproducts created as that item degrades in a landfill. E-waste is a growing problem in Canada and, according to a study from the University of Waterloo, is expected to reach 1.2 million tonnes annually by 2030.
This isn’t to scare you away from buying your loved ones technology for Christmas. Rather, we should be realistic about how our consumer choices impact the world around us and be mindful of those impacts while making purchases. Here are a few things you might want to think about when buying that gadget that can help lessen the impact of your purchase, save money and time, and hopefully result in a welcome gift to a loved one.
Spoil the Surprise!
This might seem counter-intuitive when it comes to gift giving, but it can result in a happier gift recipient and avoid having to make a return. Talk to your intended recipient about their prospective gift before you purchase. The last thing you want is to get Grandma an iPad that gets used once and then never again because she didn’t want it in the first place. How we use technology is quite personal to our day-to-day lives, and we can only really glean that from having some conversations. The more you talk with someone before you buy them a gadget of some kind, the more you can appreciate how they use technology, and what they feel their needs are. The gift not being a surprise will be secondary to the gift being exactly what the person needed.
Consider buying used
There are people who buy new gadgets on a regular cycle so they have the newest thing, but often used electronics can be found that are appropriate for the user and in good condition for a reasonable price. Many retailers carry used models that have been refurbished, and offer a guarantee that those models work within reasonable expectations. Refurbished models might not perform as well as new models, but if the person you are buying for is a fairly light user, refurbished may be a good option. The trick with buying used technology is to balance the expected lifespan of the item with the cost. If you do buy used, stick to purchasing from reputable retailers or from people you know you can trust. Buying used helps to divert technology from the landfill for at least a little while anyway.
Subsidize an already planned purchase
Technology purchases are generally big purchases, so if you know your loved one is already planning on buying something, just contribute to the cause! Give a gift card for the retailer they are planning on purchasing from or put some cash in a greeting card. This way, you’ll know that whatever they get is what they want, and that you eased the impact their purchase would have on their wallet. Contributing some money to their technology purchase could also allow them to purchase a better model than they could before.
Technology is a part of our lives, but technology purchases have a greater impact that we don’t always think about. While we can’t eliminate that impact entirely – and while corporations certainly need to do more to make the production of technology sustainable – we can work to limit our impact, especially over the holidays when technology purchasing, and the resulting flood of returns are at their peak. And if you do find yourself buying or returning something to a retailer this holiday season, be sure to remember the human toll of our spending habits and be kind to the people behind the counter.
Learn more
Correction log
Christmas by the Numbers. 2017. (StatsCan) Last accessed 2024/01/16.
Canada: electronics share of e-retail sales 2017-2025. 2021. (Statista) Last accessed 2024/01/16.
Online Shopping Statistics in Canada. 2023. Olivia Bush. (Made In CA) Last accessed 2023/12/04.
Hidden cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up. 2020. Anu Singh, Tyana Grundig, David Common. (CBC Marketplace) Last accessed 2024/01/16.
More US retailers adopt 'keep it' returns policies to shelter profits in holiday surge. 2023. Lisa Baertlein and Arriana McLymore. (Reuters) Last accessed 2024/01/16
Canada's electronic waste more than tripled in 20 years, UW study indicates. 2023. Tyler Griffin. (CBC) Last accessed 2024/01/16.
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