Study: Stigma of gift receipts is diminishing

To ensure that recipients are happy with holiday gifts, millions of Americans will rely on gift receipts to enable loved ones to return or exchange a gift seamlessly when the holidays are over. According to NRF's 2009 Holiday Returns Survey, 58.6 percent of shoppers said they enclose gift receipts most of the time or some of the time when giving gifts. The survey also found that 87.9 percent of shoppers feel that retailers' return policies are fair.

"Whether it's a toy, an appliance, a DVD or a sweater, gifts of all shapes and sizes can be easily returned when a gift receipt is attached," said Tracy Mullin, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation. "In this economy, no one wants to worry that a present will be a duplicate, or go unused, so many people are relying on gift receipts to make the returns process easier."

Although gift receipts make returns easy, many people didn't need to return a thing last holiday season. According to the survey, more than two-thirds (67.1 percent) of gift recipients said they did not return any gifts last year, up from the 65.2 percent in 2007.