INDEPENDENCE DAY GIFT EXCHANGE / ASSIGNMENTS SENT!

[Ben]

Gentlemen,

I've decided to organize a gift exchange for SMF. It will coincide with the fourth of July!

Most of us (in America, that is) either have the day off or a long weekend to celebrate the national holiday. What better way to party on July 4 than to grant your face its independence from unwanted stubble?

The gift exchange is open to all actively participating SMF members.

This is how it will work:

I'm posting this on Tuesday, May 16. I need to have all interested SMF members accounted for by next Tuesday, May 23, so I can have time to pair people up and give everyone the time to do their shopping and shipping. Here are the guidelines:

1. Post a reply to this thread, indicating your interest in playing. Then PM me your contact information: SMF screen name, real name, address, and e-mail address.

2. I will assign you the name of another SMF member. He will be your target. Note that the drawing is random, so you may not be sending to the person who is sending to you. I will use www.random.org when making the assignments.

3. Your package must contain shaving-related items with a total value of no less than $25.00 (U.S. funds). This leaves lots of room to pick up some nice stuff. Could be a vintage DE or straight razor, some DE blades, tools for maintaining straight razors, some high-end shaving soaps or creams, colognes, aftershaves, etc. Searching for best prices and sale items will allow you to buy more stuff, which is great! Do not use this as an opportunity to send your fellow man 28 cans of Barbasol. Only give what you would be pleased to receive. If you'd be pleased to receive 28 cans of Barbasol as a special gift, then this exchange is not for you. If you have particular, strong dislikes or do not wish to receive a certain item for a serious reason, please let me know in the PM you send (i.e., if you can't drink alcohol). Don't go overboard with this.

4. Independence Day is a celebration, so do your best to include something special that you enjoy. That could be wine, spirits, a premium cigar, etc. It doesn't have to be big and expensive. An airline-sized bottle of Scotch or Bourbon is a great example; but at the same time, don't be afraid to go all out. Use your imagination, and maybe search your target's previous posts here to see what that person might like. If you have particular, strong dislikes or do not wish to receive a certain item for a serious reason, please let me know in the PM you send (i.e., if you can't drink alcohol). Don't go overboard with this.

5. THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION! Keeping that in mind, you're in the clear as long as you follow rule 3. Similarly, do not publicly post the content of the package you've sent or the one you have received. Doing so is in poor taste. Be gentlemen and keep your exchanges private. Anyone who can follow rule 3 can participate and should not penalized or made to feel bad for not being able to spend more than the required amount. I'm very serious about this.

6. Regardless of the carrier you use for your package, you must get delivery confirmation of some kind (i.e., a tracking number). You and I must be able to confirm shipment and/or receipt of the package. Use your best judgment when it comes to adding insurance.

7. Packages must arrive on or before Monday, June 26. Make sure you get them in the mail in a timely manner. If your package does not arrive by Friday, June 23, I may ask you for the delivery confirmation number. If you cannot provide it, your entire body will be subjected to a twenty-pass shave with a Feather Artist Club razor, then dunked in concentrated witch hazel.

8. Post to this thread when you ship your end of the exchange.

9. Post to this thread when your package has arrived.

10. Have fun!

PLEASE NOTE:

- Deadline for sign-up is May 23, 2006.
- Participants are responsible for any and all shipping costs, taxes, duties, etc.
- The SMF administrators and I are not responsible for missing packages or failure to play by the rules.

If you are unclear about any part of this or have any questions, please send me a PM before you sign up.

EDIT: REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.

[Ben]

I'll be the first to sign up. PM sent.

[Austin]

[Kalypso]

Count me in.....

[kirkawall]

Can Canadians play? (We'd get ours first!)

k

[Ben]

The gift exchange is open to all actively participating SMF members.

[Gatorade]

In there like swimwear.

[Hugo]

I'm not entirley sure I understand this concept.

I guess I'm either really bad at comprehension or I'm overtired.

[ScottS]

You might be violating interstate (and maybe international) law if you ship alcoholic beverages!!

[Ben]

I'm not entirley sure I understand this concept.

I guess I made the rules too easy to understand. Allow me to convolute the process for you. You spend at least $25 on shaving-related items and possibly other goodies in addition to that $25. You send them to the person you're assigned. You will be assigned to another SMF who has signed up. That person will send you at least $25 worth of shaving-related items and possibly other goodies in addition to that $25 in shaving stuff. You may get lucky and get $100 worth of shaving stuff and a bottle of Scotch from someone. Who knows? Either way, I am confident that everyone will be as generous as possible.

This a neat way for us to share our crazy obsession with shaving stuff and some of the other finer things in life. It's a way for this community to have a nice time together. It's also a way for us to possibly try some products we hadn't previously considered or restock our supplies with old favorites.

[Ben]

You might be violating interstate (and maybe international) law if you ship alcoholic beverages!!

Well, I'm certainly not advocating the violation of any laws. For what it's worth, I've received beers and whiskey through gift exchanges on other forums.

[Hugo]

I'm not entirley sure I understand this concept.

I guess I made the rules too easy to understand. Allow me to convolute the process for you. You spend at least $25 on shaving-related items and possibly other goodies. You send them to the person you're assigned. You will be assigned to another SMF who has signed up. That person will send you at least $25 worth of shaving-related items and possibly other goodies. You may get lucky and get $100 worth of shaving stuff and a bottle of Scotch from someone. Who knows? Either way, I am confident that everyone will be as generous as possible.

This a neat way for us to share our crazy obsession with shaving stuff and some of the other finer things in life. It's a way for this community to have a nice time together. It's also a way for us to possibly try some products we hadn't previously considered or restock our supplies with old favorites.

So, if I can get 50 people to join then I get a gift certificate to purchase at least $25 worth of shaving-related items and possibly other goodies.??

[Ben]

It's just a gift exchange. Not too complex.

[Hugo]

It's just a gift exchange. Not too complex.

Where do I get the tickets?

[Ben]

You're being a curmudgeon.

Now you have to sign up.

[Hugo]

You're being a curmudgeon.

Now you have to sign up.

[Kalypso]

Is this like Amway???

[Gatorade]

You might be violating interstate (and maybe international) law if you ship alcoholic beverages!!

Not if you don't tell! Don't get legal on this. This is just between friends.

[msandoval858]

Tossing my name in the hat

[ScottS]

You're being a curmudgeon.

Now you have to sign up.

Trust me-- it's not my bag, man. Many people have a ton of fun with these kinds of things, but me and swap-type raffles don't get along. Its a personal curse. Any swaplike thing I'm involved with, or that I even witness, always goes wrong in astounding ways. I know there are incredibly generous people here with incredibly good taste, so at the very least it will end up with me feeling guilty about the quality of my offering in comparison to mine, or the recipient having my offering in every flavor of the rainbow, or something like that. Maybe I'd get paired to a Canadian who ends up paying $25 to ship the $25 item to me, and my contribution would cause him to have a nasty argument with Canadian customs, and he'd end up in a Canadian gulag for three years. Maybe I'd end up paired with a person in from a country where cold-war communism would pop up all over again, all because I participated in a swap, and I'd spend weeks trying to get a shaving cream smuggled in through a brand spanking new shiny iron curtain, still in its pristinely oiled coating, while his contribution of Creed Vetiver ends up being confiscated for the use of the local military dictator, and I'd never see it. Perhaps I would merely be tossed into anaphylaxis by the product I receive.

In general, its enough for me to be electronically in the room for something to go wrong. As an example, on the fly fishing group I participate in, we tend to sporadically get together for a "clave" somewhere we can fish. At the one of the first such gatherings, there was a raffle where all the participants and some of the non-participants contributed items, ranging in value from around ten bucks, to a handmade bamboo flyrod that was built by an incredibly generous member. This raffle must have been six years ago, and just last month some participant was arguing with another, and the relative qualities of their contributions actually resurfaced-- but that's not the worst part of this raffle, not in the least.

The "rafflemeister" at the event turned out to be a little person (literally) who was, by profession, a Vegas Magician. He collected all the raffle tickets, dumped them in a hat, and drew the ticket for the valuable rod first. "Magically" it turned out to be his number. Needless to say, whether by sleight of hand or trick of fate, this situation just blew up big time. While the rafflemeister no longer participates, the matter still comes up years later in disappointing ways during little arguments and such. So, that raffle was poisoned by a mean spirited dwarf with slight of hand abilities. Such is my curse.

So, I will sacrifice my own personal satisfaction. Tonight, I will go home, toss salt over my shoulder, glue together a cracked mirror, and shave a black cat while standing on a ladder, all to make sure that this swap is not brought down by my curse.



EDIT: For those who don't believe this, you can see the fallout for yourselves at this link. It was even more interesting than I remembered, as said raffle meister was packing a holstered six shooter.