Free is Fun!

Not too long ago I signed up with a website called Freeflys. I was skeptical at first and expected it to just be another source of endless junk-mail. Surprisingly, I only got the e-mail I was told I was going to get, a daily update with the day's free samples and a weekly recap and 5 weeks or so after signing up samples started showing up in the mail. Now, due to poor economy and people loving free stuff, the samples often disappear in a hurry or may be lottery style with a fixed number of samples. Also, Freeflys does link to other websites with sample offers so sometimes you have to sign up for other services to get said sample. So you are working for your free stuff, it is not completely free at least if you value your time, and I do.

All in all I have been relatively happy with Freeflys and gotten a number of decent samples, some of which have led to changing which product I buy. I don't expect this to last. The number of no strings attached, free samples has been dwindling, with an increasing number of the 'free' samples being for restaurants, often with some form of catch in the form of "buy this to get this free". This is pretty much to be expected. Companies are only going to give out free stuff as long as it is profitable. When the cost of free samples given out starts to exceed the increase in sales the company is going to re-evaluate its practices and probably stop offering free samples, or at least stop offering unlimited free samples. And don't kid yourself, they do analyze these things (I am taking a math course in statistics and there are entire careers built on the analysis of marketing strategies). The wave of the future in samples will be the above-mentioned lottery with a fixed number of samples.

The biggest reason for this? Free IS fun. People like to get stuff for free. There is a certain miniscule thrill each time you open your mailbox and find something sent to you for free, or go through the checkout line and come away having only spent pennies, or better yet, nothing at all! So even if you already use a product and you see that you have a chance for a free sample of that same product you will probably try and get the sample. In fact, you may be more likely to try and get it because you can reason that is less you will have to buy of a product you already use. Take for example a recent sample that was offered at Wal-Mart. Procter & Gamble had samples of its new Cascade Platinum tabs and samples of its Tide Pods attached by a simple rubber band to others of its products. I wanted to try the tabs and purchased a product with a sample. I was happy with the sample and started purchasing that product. Success! They have a new customer for that product. However, later that day I was back in the store for another item and wandering through the detergent aisle noticed that fully half of the samples had disappeared, but the products they were attached to were still on the shelf, the products sitting near the back still sitting with samples intact. Failure, people just wanted free stuff. Whether they usually buy that brand or not is irrelevant, they took the samples to get something for free so they wouldn't have to buy it. Both of the mentioned products are more expensive than alternative products, they are convenient and you pay extra for that convenience. I understand, the temptation is there, I just avoid it. I want free samples to keep coming but that example is exactly why they won't. Online samples are a little better for the manufacturer. They can at least make sure they don't send more than one sample to one address. Still, the issue remains that offering samples is a gamble, one that often doesn't pay off.

So you might ask, what is my point? Am I saying people should stop trying to get free samples? No, definitely not. Times are tough. My family lives on a very low income and when I get a chance to try something free before I buy I jump at it! I can't afford to buy products I can't or won't use. What I am saying is that if you genuinely like something, reward the manufacturer, buy their product. If you reward them, they reward you by in the future continuing to offer free samples. And we all know....free is fun!