Patent ID: 7353190

Claim:
A gift-valuable article exchange assisting device comprising: a portable terminal carried by a delivery person, the portable terminal being configured to communicate with a delivery management server at a delivery company via a network to receive information on delivery requests which the delivery management server received from retail-store terminals installed at retail stores, wherein the portable terminal comprises: a memory unit which stores exchangeable article information that indicates whether a gift, which was ordered by a consignor and is to be delivered by a recipient, can be exchanged for an equivalent-value article, and stores exchange conditions in correspondence with the gift, wherein a sum of a value of the equivalent-value article and a predetermined service charge added is equivalent to a value of the gift; a determination unit which, when the recipient desires to exchange the gift delivered for another article, determines at the delivery site whether the gift can be exchanged for the equivalent-value article based on the exchangeable article information stored in the memory unit; a calculation unit which calculates at the delivery site the predetermined service charge when the determination unit decides that that exchange is possible; a decision unit which decides at the delivery site the equivalent-value article as a substitution for the gift based on the exchange conditions, when a value obtained by subtracting the service charge from the value of the gift is equivalent to the value of the equivalent-value article; and a printing unit which prints a statement describing contents of the gift, name of the consignor, and the equivalent-value article exchangeable, the statement being given to the recipient wherein the memory unit stores information related to gifts from a plurality of different gift sellers, and the valuable article to which the gift can be exchanged is from a source other than the gift seller originating the gift.