For me, there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke, and one toy for my kids that was a huge sparkly styrofoam mess waiting to happen, so I threw it out rather than curse anyone else with it.

  • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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    there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke,

    My kids got two or three items each that promptly broke. Into the garbage they go.

    I hate the dollar store so much. It’s a waste of money and an environmental train wreck.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      And sketchy. Who knows if any particular batch of any particular product was made to safety or quality standards.

      • gordon@lemmy.world
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        Actually they are all the same, and none of them are, that’s why they are all the same. The plan was made before fire codes required updated sprinkler systems or something and since they keep reusing the same plans they all are fire hazards.

        A fire fighter buddy of mine was ranting one night and I caught the tail end of the discussion.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          I feel like I’m catching the tail end of this discussion. Is this thread still about dollar store products? What plan do you mean?

            • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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              Oh ok, that makes sense. Thought he might have meant that at first but second guessed because I only see them in strip malls or other buildings they didn’t build themselves these days but thinking about the aisles does make me think fire hazard now. At least they usually keep the lighters by the cash, though I wonder if someone learned that one the hard way.

    • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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      They do have some of the smaller Lego sets, which is the only toy I’ll buy as a last minute gift there.

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        Lego gets a special dispensation. It lasts (unlike some of the knockoffs) and it’s a nice creative toy for kids. And adults.

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    Christian devotional book from my aunt, I’ve straight told her I don’t read or want them but she keeps doing it

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    I mentioned to a family member how much I like my garlic press. I then received a garlic press for Christmas and will certainly be regifting it.

    • TheActualDevil@sffa.community
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      Is your family member Google Ad Sense?

      “I see you spent a week researching PSUs for your computer and I see that you finally bought one. Would you like to buy a PSU? because even though we know you bought one we’ll be showing you nothing but ads for PSUs for the foreseeable future.”

    • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      What kind do you have?

      I have an ancient one, probably my great grandmothers, and the garlic just gets smashed into the square-but-actually-round holes and it’s impossible to get most of it out.

      Mostly it makes smashed garlic, which I can do with a knife much more easily…

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        I got an Oxo Good Grips one for my Christmas this year and I think it’s the last press I’ll ever need

        • hinterlufer@lemmy.world
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          Pressed garlic has a much more intense flavor. For a stew or most cooked stuff I would squash and chop it, for sauces or garlic oil I prefer pressed.

          It’s also much faster as you don’t have to peel it and if you wash the press right away it’s just as fast as washing a knife.

          • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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            It has literally never occurred to me that there’s no need to peel garlic if it’s going in a press. I feel dumb now.

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      Regifting it because you don’t need a second one? Or because the one gifted to you is of lower quality?

      • dirtySourdough@lemmy.world
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        Both. I bought one from this brand before and it rusted after the first use. I’ll admit I may not have washed it properly, but that’s not something I expect from my kitchenware. And I don’t see a use for a second garlic press, but I’m open to hearing one

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          That’s some chinesium level shit right there XD I wouldn’t want that crap either.

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    My parents gave me one of those 2023 Guinness World Record book. I appreciate the gesture, but it screams “we didn’t know what to get you, and there were a pallet of 'em at Costco”. I can see the book’s appeal for a child or teenager but I’M 37.

    I’ll be re-gifting it to my father in-law 😎 I’m 100% sure he’ll love it.

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    At the other end of the spectrum: My wife and I made a minimal gifts pact. We each got each other minor crap we needed for around the house. It was perfect. No waste. No extravagance. Just stuff we were going to get anyway.

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      Just don’t gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?
      My family did it and it was honestly amazing (obviously kids should get something if possible).

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        Just don’t gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?

        We haven’t made it that far yet. I imagine/hope we will eventually.

      • gramie@lemmy.ca
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        As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, in Iceland they buy each other books and on Christmas Eve they open the books and everyone sits around reading them.

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      We always get stuff for the kids and the nieces/nephews, and our moms. But we haven’t gotten a gift for each other in years now. We both buy something if we want it bad enough throughout the year, and it’s both of our money anyway, so what’s the point? We will some years get a “household gift” that’s something we need or everyone can benefit from, that shouldn’t go to just one kid or "you two share this and try not to fight over it, or that they will care less about. Nice air fryer one year, Nintendo switch another, etc. But nothing really needed or wanted this year so we’ll probably just take a pass.

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        And we finally get around to getting the crap we keep forgetting to pick up! Note pads!

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      this is how my family has it set up too, everyone writes a list of some reasonable stuff they’d quite like to get anyways and we just pick a thing from each list while coordinating with each other to not duplicate anything.

      Works brilliantly.

      • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.org
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        I currently have a printer, also HP, but an old one (20 years).

        When I’ll finally need a new printer, I’ll be deciding between HP and Brother. I am not sure about Linux support with Brother printers. I heard it’s great, but I need to search more. I know HPLIP works well, but I also heard these new HP printers don’t last long. Then there’s also the thing called HP+ (not to be confused with Instant Ink) that many of those printers have, which REQUIRES HP account AND a connection to internet.

        • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
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          Linux user here, can confirm a Brother multifunction laser printer/scanner monster from around five years ago works flawlessly and painlessly out of the box with multiple Debian derivatives.

          Also the first toner I bought with it is still sealed in its box because the free starter toner which came with the printer still hasn’t run down. I’m never going back to inkjets!

        • schmorp@slrpnk.net
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          Be a member of the Brother-hood. I have a big black multifunction Brother printer, scanner (even fax, wtf!), and it works on both Linux and Windows. Bought four years ago. It just wants a quiet corner and a wifi connection. I think it’d even print from my Android phone if I tickled it a little, but can’t be arsed now. It’s happy with cheapo ink as well. It also cleans itself and has survived in a definitely-not-an-office environment. If it makes another year I’ll give it a pet name, it deserves one!

        • Zerlyna@lemmy.world
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          I have had three Brother lasers since 2006 and they are workhorses. Can’t help with the Linux question.

        • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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          HP is a nightmare, I had nothing but issues on my system with HP. Brother is no fuss no install kind of deal. It just appears ready and willing.

      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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        My first laser printer was an HP Laser Jet MP5 that my boss threw away because ‘it was noisy’. Workhorse beast printed easily another 15,000 pages before I replaced it with a color laser from Brother. That beast (purchased in 2013) has gone through 3 toner carts for CYMK, and printed high res great output in glorious color for over a decade now.

        Moral of the story: HP wasn’t always garbage, but they certainly are today; Brother makes a damn good printer.

        • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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          Oh yeah, in college I bought an HP color ink jet that lasted probably 2 decades. No bullshit, it just printed stuff, and it was fantastic.

      • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.org
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        Not really preferred, but I do have a printer already. A 20 years old HP PSC 1315. It still works, and I don’t even know how after my USB port replacement attempt which was also my first soldering attempt, and it ended terribly. But, it does seem to make a connection, so it works for now. I didn’t know what flux is, and I used the highest temperature, 520°C. As I said, no idea how it works, but it’s been like that for over 2 years.

        It’s not perfect, but it works. It only has partial support by HPLIP, so to print in high DPI I need to use a Windows 7 VM with the drivers. That then takes 20 minutes per A4 page. The colors are quite poor and it has quite large borders. If scanning anything with color, I need to play with contrast and saturation in Scan2PDF, otherwise most colors are just invisible.
        On the plus side, I found an app called NokoPrint that allows me to print from Android phone using this printer via USB.

        So yeah, that smart tank would have been much better, but there would also be extra e-waste. I can deal with this printer. Actually, I got this from e-waste, so I even saved some. Also, they took it with extended warranty and some insurance, making it €207!!! I don’t want such an expensive gift.

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    My neighbour gave me a TV. To be precise, he rushed it to me unannounced at the exact moment I was leaving to go to a party. I accepted as quickly as I could in an effort to still make my train.

    It turns out it’s about 15 years old and I have no use for it. He’s a lovely man but I intend to post it as free to a good home then drop it at an e-recycling station if nobody is interested.

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    My grandmother got me some uranium because she knows I’m into reactors. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she got scammed & it was all depleted.

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        It’s a made-up story. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of uranium enrichment and places that do uranium enrichment aren’t even going to talk to you unless you have a host of government licenses. Depleted uranium only has a few applications like:

        • Armor penetrating munitions
        • Counterweights for aeronautics
        • Ironically, as radiation shielding

        This makes it very hard for collectors to obtain (it can take people years) and actual samples of DU are going to be more expense than regular uranium. The story makes as much sense as your grandmother buying cubic zirconia jewelry and being “scammed” with actual diamonds.

        • profdc9@lemmy.world
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          Well, the DU could have been scavenged from spent munitions a warzone after it had obliterated something.

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            Can a man truly be wooshed when he doesn’t possess the required knowledge in the first place? I say not. This is an unjust woosh.

  • SpliceVW@lemmy.world
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    The slinky my middle child got didn’t even survive the day.

    Has anyone had a slinky that survived more than a week?

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      When my kids play with slinkies, they’re destroyed within a day.

      To clarify: the slinkie is destroyed. The children remain unchanged.

  • Mario_Dies.wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    I think I accidentally threw away a Starbucks gift card someone gave me, because I’ve been unable to locate it since Christmas :(

    EDIT: LMFAO the mods removed my reply to the Scrooge below me because I said “I hope you get coal next year” XD

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    I rarely throw gifts away, if I don’t like them, I try to donate them to an organization or individual.

    However, many years ago, someone got me “snow paint” which was, I’m pretty sure, literally just food coloring. You were supposed to use it to color in snow sculptures but I’m pretty sure that one found its way to the trash.