Many of those who swapped presents this Christmas will, just like others earlier at Diwali and Eid, have been left feeling decidedly nonplussed by what they received. In the West, an entire industry has been created so that those who are dissatisfied with their presents can sell them and get something they actually like and want.
While this might strike some as the epitome of first-world materialism that fails to give proper credit to the hours of effort granny put into crocheting that bright-pink tea cosy, few would deny that this process of shedding the unwanted is a genuine phenomenon repeated after every gift-giving holiday.
Is there a better way? A German publisher, Bastei Lübbe, and book retailer Hugendubel think there is, so they created a vending machine where unwanted gifts can be swapped for a book by a bestselling author. The gifts are donated to charity, and everyone ends up happy – so long as granny doesn’t ask about the tea cosy.
