I remember they did an episode of "Dilbert" about this topic.
My opinion is that sometimes people, especially relatives, tend to buy things that you really honestly truly do not want. So unless I give a specific gift request, I usually just ask for gift certificates from Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, etc.
Only people who don't are my one set of grandparents, who buy me clothes, which I tend to like, and leave large sums of money in the pockets
