Notes From Portland

Most employee appreciation gifts are chosen to offend nobody, which is why nobody remembers them. Here's the case for the opposite, plus how we pick coffee for a team we've never met, why every box gets a medium and a light, and what the office pot has to do with it.

The best closing gift is one your client uses up. Most end up in a drawer instead. Here's what to send, when to send it, and why the timing matters more than the gift.