Does marriage count?
/s
Yeah.
Mini story.
Back in the day, me and my best friend got on a mailing list for samples. We didn’t do it intentionally, but it ended up being pretty cool. We’d get all kinds of stuff. Some of it was shit, some was good, the way you’d expect.
But over the years, those samples worked. Sensodyne, the toothpaste for example. Tried a sample, and since it’s as good as anything else as toothpaste, the fact that I preferred the taste more than most was enough to switch.
But the cool shit was when they’d ask for feedback. Sometimes you’d get full sized freebies.
One of those was the candy, take 5. A pretzel with caramel, covered in chocolate. This was before they were for sale. We tried the samples, sent in the little card, and a few weeks later got boxes in the mail full of the samples, asking us to get other people to try it. So, we did, and those people usually sent the cards that came in the box the we gave them.
Turned out that the little number on the card was our number. So, when people sent in the cards with feedback, they knew it was us doing their marketing for them (that’s what the whole thing is, it wasn’t just them being nice). Well, another month or two passed, and we see them in stores. And we would buy them here and there, because they are insanely good, if a tad too sweet overall.
Then, we got more boxes from them, packed with the full sized packages, plus a whole booklet of coupons, and a surprisingly nice little form letter of thanks. It ended up being something like fifty free packages, twenty free coupons plus another twenty of half price.
What I like about this is it’s sincere… you liked something, got to share it, and it got onto shelves. Now everything feels like a scam.
Would you say the amount you received in thanks is roughly worth the amount of work you did by marketing and relaying feedback? I’m just curious.
Honestly, yeah.
It took next to zero effort, and it was a product I liked enough to have recommended even if the only thing I had gotten was the first sample.
It’s really the best kind of marketing I’ve ever run across. They made it so that the only work involved was handing something small to someone, plus the original feedback. If the product had sucked, even that effort wasn’t mandatory.
Really weird that this question would come up right now because up until yesterday, I would say no. I was at the store with my daughter and there was a person giving away free samples of these frozen dumplings (they were cooked, not cold). My daughter chowed one down and asked for another. Now my daughter is a super picky eater, so I was like “hell yeah, I’m gonna buy a box of these”.
Well we went home to have dumplings for dinner and she didn’t want to eat them.
So now I have dumplings.
Wait are you talking about your cat?
Damn she is too picky
Maybe you should’ve waited a week or two to serve those to her again, maybe twice in one day was too much for her pickiness
Whelp we got a whole box of them, so maybe in a day or two we will try again.
Costco samples sometimes. Doesn’t happen often though. I think the last time was this huge bag of popcorn that was actually really good.
The Chicago style popcorn?! 🤤
No lol. Just regular popcorn and certain flavors. This is in Canada, so it might be different for you.
Creators!
Same. The first one was a box of 20+ single serving guacamole pots. It was excellent for a non freshly made version and we had it with chips or raw veg most days for the next couple of weeks. Despite looking for it every time we go back, it hasn’t been available since that first time.
Winrar and mIRC are pretty good but I’m not quite sure yet…
Granted this isnt a “Purchase,” but I married my wife. After that first sample, I was hooked and knew I wanted the whole woman forever. 6 years later, I got my best friend and gal of my dreams everyday.
Goals ❤️
I don’t go to Costco but every few years and I went hungry with a friend who has membership and bought too many of the samples I had
Yes, for a set of skincare products. One of the products was a sebum control serum that just did magic, I’ve never seen anything else like it. No more pimples no more blackheads no excess oil and just in three days. Unfortunately it’s discontinued now 😭 but yeah that’s my bought after the sample story
I was just about to ask the name of the product and then got to the end of your comment and became immensely depressed. I’m tired of feeling excessively oily and what you described sounded like a dream product.
It was the jojoba company brand. They still make the face cleanser with grapefruit, which was pretty good for oil control but the serum was the key product.
I’m just as sad 😭
In college I was given a 5-pound block of cheese after doing a mall survey on cheese.
Okay but the question was: did you purchase it?
I really need to work on my…reading comprehension sometimes.
Dude same. I words all the time
Or are they still working their way through that 5 pound block of cheese?
It wasn’t a free “sample”, but I got someone’s hand-me-down leggings and they were so comfortable that I bought a new pair when I needed a different size.
I received a “gift with purchase” lip balm. I usually just toss it after discovering how sticky/goopy/fragranced/tingling it is, but this one was really mild/neutral/pleasant so I got the full one when I finished the sample.
I’m a lip balm fanatic, please share the brand!
I got a 90 day “sample” of Ableton in 2020 with a midi keyboard I bought. At the end of it I had a few songs out and they gave me another 3 months for some reason. Now I’ve been using Ableton for nearly 5 years, full license.
Yea, snacks are the most likely culprit for me.
Ooh, kettle corn and kettle chips are my kryptonite right now.
- Cracked Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 to full Minecraft Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5. (I don’t like Microsoft and Notch is a Nazi)
- Cheese (before I was vegan. I kinda miss free food sampling)
- Monthly countrywide public transit ticket (well 9€ wasn’t free, but for a net of 39,000 km railway alone plus every other PT except HSR, it basically is). 49€ now, 58€ in 2025 (=> Subsidy regimes are not on parity to motorised individual traffic)
- Library subscription
Plasticity (3d software)
