These days, you can almost live off free gifts.
You can find free grocery cards, free heating,
free diapers. In some cases, you can even get
your gas bills paid for a year, or even your
heating bills paid on your behalf.
In some cases, it could be to promote their
products. The company wants to increase the
sales its product. They are so sure you would
love their product if only you would try it.
Free samples are given out, hoping you would
love the product so much, you would buy it the
next time around. That is how Estee Lauder promoted
her business decades ago. She would give free
samples of her products. A practice unheard
of then. The women who tried her creams found
they really work and then became her regular
customers.
In the same way, free 1 year gym memberships
might be given out, hoping that you like the
facilities so much, you sign up as a paid member
when your free year is out. Free magazines might
be given hoping you like the magazine so much,
you subscribe to it. My son came home with a
free magazine he won in a contest. We are considering
subscribing to that magazine as it is rather
educational.
Not all free gifts are so good. Some come with
a hidden cost. Especially some of the free software
or screen savers you might download into your
PC.
Nothing is truly free. Think of it. How would
the makers of this software cover its cost?
Such free software is often bundled up with
adware. The ads pay for the software. Download
the software and you see ads popping up on your
PC, in some cases, slowing the PC to a halt.
These are the ones I am wary of. Basically,
before downloading anything into your software
read that entire terms and conditions carefully
to see if they are going to put anything else
into your PC.
The other type of free software would be the
free trials of software you would have to pay
for if you want to use beyond the trial period.
These are usually good programs that after using
beyond the trial period, chances are, you would
want to continue using them so you pay for the
cost of that software.
Then there are the unscrupulous companies where
the representatives lure you into their office
with the intention of pressurizing you into
buying something really expensive which you
don't really want in the first place. It happened
to me before with a time share company that
kept me in there for hours, with the representative
trying hard sell tactics to pressure us to buy
from them. I have since read complaints about
similar companies in the newspapers. In such
cases, forget about the gift and walk away.
Then there are the promotional free gifts used
to bring publicity to the sponsoring company.
The goodwill the free gifts bring is, to the
company, worth the cost of the gifts themselves.
These could be small items as door gifts at
a party or they could be huge prizes like a
mustang car given to winners of a lucky draw.
Have you ever answered a few survey questions
in a mall and been given a pen or other gift
as a token of appreciation? I love that sort
of free gift. Sometimes, the gifts can be really
generous.
Market research is important to a company.
For a company to succeed, it needs to know what
the consumers really want. For that reason,
some companies are willing to give generous
gifts in exchange for your filling in some survey
forms. These free gifts are often given in exchange
for your survey answers or your feedback. A
sweet deal to the consumer if you ask me. The
catch here is that in many cases the companies
may need only a certain number of respondents.
Once the quota is met, the party is over. The
early bird catches the worm, or gets the gift
in this case.
By answering surveys, you can get free gas,
free groceries, free perfume, free dinners,
free designer handbags, gift cards to buy whatever
you want. Who knows how long this would last,
but while companies are willing to shower consumers
with all these goodies for free, you might as
well enjoy it while it lasts. Even then, freebies
should not replace your regular job or source
of income. It is just the icing of the cake,
but boy, is it sweet. About
the Author The writer is the webmaster of
www.cheapestsale.com
