Re-gifting...

Why the social unacceptability of "re-gifting?"

You get something and you don't particularly like it. Or maybe you don't need it.

Why does that necessarily mean that it may not be a PERFECT fit for someone else? Sure, there are items that you just want to "unload" and there may be those for whom you feel obligated to get a gift but since they are not A or B list friends you feel like..."ok, I'll just throw this one over the fence to meet this ridiculous social obligation," but there may be cases where what's not right for you, is right for another.

Went out to dinner last week. Got there and said, "I brought you a few things."
As expected, they said, "oh, you shouldn't have..."
I said, "don't worry, everything I brought is a re-gift."

What's ironic is that all of the items I brought were genuinely a good fit for these people and they told me so (fortunately, we have the type of relationship where the candor I proferred by volunteering the re-gift information was ok and where they would tell me if it wasn't a good fit), yet somehow, the fact that it was a re-gift lessened the value of the gift in the eyes of all involved.

Maybe because I didn't spend any time actually going somewhere or spending more money, I don't know. But we all know that re-gifts are of lesser value than non re-gifts. Seems like if the person likes it (regardless of whether it's a re-gift of not) would be the key determining factor, not how much time or money the giver devotes to identifying the gift.

Thoughts?