Yesterday, as I just found out from fellow blogger Jill Dennison, was ‘Pay It Forward Day‘. I’ve missed the boat on celebrating that, but it reminded me of something…
Nine years ago I came up with an idea. It’s a very simple one: you buy something that you like, and you give it to a friend. But there’s a catch: your friend, in accepting the gift, has to agree to ‘ye Oath of Giftiness’, which states that if your friend likes the gift, then they will buy another one for a friend of theirs, under the same restriction*.
I thought that it would be a pretty cool way of helping to promote, well, things :)
What do you think?
Oath of Giftiness blanks for your use:
- oath of giftiness blank (PDF)
- oath of giftiness blank (OpenOffice)
- oath of giftiness blank (MS-Word)
* There is an opt-out clause: if the recipient doesn’t like the gift, there’s no obligation to pass it forward.
Wibble 
A few questions: can you make instead of buy the gift? Can it be a free lesson as a gift or one coupon equals one meal in the future(minus covid restrictions) at the restaurant of your choice, type of gift? In any case, like it!
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Well, let’s see… making the gift might be problematic, unless it’s something anyone can make. Similar problem with a free lesson: the ‘giftee’ would need to have to have some skill to teach. I think the restaurant meal coupon idea would work well enough, since (presumably) one would have to purchase the coupon from the restaurant.
Thanks for your input. Glad you like it!
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‘Pay It Forward Day’.
Giftiness
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Thank you for sharing my post, and I think your idea is pretty cool!
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Thank you!
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It’s a brilliant and novel idea.
Also, I came especially to say how sorry I am about your cat, wibble. So sad when you,lose a beloved pet. Please will you accept a hug from me?
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Hug graciously accepted! :)
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I am so glad 😊
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I think it’s a nice idea. It immediately made me think of books. You might not know if you like it until you actually read it. (Can the paying it forward choice be delayed?) However, it did make me think of recycling and just crowding our lives with stuff. Yes, it’s better for the author for their book to be bought more than once but then wouldn’t it be better for others for that one book to be passed along? It’s definitely a dilemma. And what if I like a gift but don’t think it’s something I want others to have to keep?
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I’m not sure that you’ve thoroughly grokked the intent here, Goldie…
The point is to leverage good products (and reward their originators) by simple ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising (which, in my opinion, is always superior to the kind that tries to persuade me that XYZ will enhance my sex appeal). The concept works for books, games, muffins (or indeed any other edibles), hamsters (or indeed any other pets, although on second thought perhaps there’s a good argument for not gifting animals because of the risk they could be mistreated or put in a plastic bag and dumped in a river), cups of coffee, pints of beer (or indeed any other drinkables), bicycles, yachts etc.
There’s nothing in the small print regarding a time limit; so, yes, the giftee can delay paying it forward as long as their conscience allows, so there’s plenty of time to ‘finish the book’ and discover whether it’s something they like, or not.
You’re absolutely right that recycling things is good, and I think we should all be trying to reduce the amount of unnecessary ‘stuff’ in our lives. But, to use ‘books’, as in your example, eBooks are far better than those made from dead trees. And you can’t pass eBooks on to others; everyone has to buy their own copy.
I really don’t understand your last point. I’m trying to get my head around the idea of liking a gift but… not wanting to give others the option to enjoy having one too. How does that work?
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I understand the idea. I was just giving a hard time (it’s kind of my specialty). It makes things more ‘fun.’ At least for me. \
The last part of my comment pertained to things that I like but the other person might not. The idea operates on the hypothesis that we know the other person will like/find useful whatever we get them but what I like doesn’t always equal what others like and vice versa. I’ve been gifted things that others thought were just amazing and then I had to figure out how to dispose of.
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