Posted on 10/01/2014 8:49:58 AM PDT by C19fan
In 2010, a Minnesotan named Erwin Lingitz was arrested in a Supervalu grocery store after spending an excessive amount of time at the deli counter. In the words of a Supervalu spokesperson, Lingitz had violated “societal norms and common customer understanding regarding free-sample practices.” While the charges were later dropped, the evidence remains incriminating: After a search, Lingitz was found to have stored in his pockets about a dozen soy sauce packets and “1.46 pounds of summer sausage and beef stick samples.”
Lingitz may have gotten carried away, but his impulse is more or less universal. People love free, people love food, and thus, people love free food. Retailers, too, have their own reasons to love sampling, from the financial (samples have boosted sales in some cases by as much as 2,000 percent) to the behavioral (they can sway people to habitually buy things that they never used to purchase).
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Lingitz had violated “societal norms and common customer understanding regarding free-sample practices.”
Ha! Don’t bet on “societal norms” when there is money involved. Better put up a sign with a clear policy if you want to be able to stop anyone from loading up.
I am guilty of double dipping. I would grab the first one then I forget some item so I would go back to the section and grab another sample.:)
Great win-win for Costco (and similar palletized markerers) as the folks who make the product being given away pay for the product and the staff doing the ‘demo’.
Hmmmm, just think of the Obamadork’s America as a giant COSTCO for illegal aliens, liberal arts majors, and inept politicians.
-PJ
Every time we go to Costco I tell my wife I should have brought a tray. Then collect one of every sample and have a seat at a table.
that's the best part! sampling at Costco has also shown me that i can be content with one potsticker... or a quarter of a cupcake... love when they have samples of Kinder's or Mortenson's--yum!
I go to Sams Club each Saturday.
For Lunch AND Dinner.
Whoo Hoo!
I’ve been a costco member since 1988. The two things I love about the samples are:
1. They’ve actually turned us on to stuff that we buy regularly, years after first sampling.
2. I can actually get an entire meal sampling and used to do that a lot. It wasn’t really a “save money” thing. Rather, it was a convenience and variety thing. I don’t like eating at restaurants that much. and one reason is that they give you too much food.
But the downside is that they cause huge congestion, and I’d REALLY like a “no kids” rule.
Thursday is my preferred day to sample. It seems there are more things offered. I always thank the server and sometimes ask questions like “where can I find that in a 55 gallon barrel size?” just for my own amusement.
I am guilty of double dipping. I would grab the first one then I forget some item so I would go back to the section and grab another sample.:)
I’m appalled at your behavior.
you should be ashamed
Bad, very bad.
I, of course, would never do such a thing.
Those pig in a blanket, shrimp cocktail and BBQ rib samples are pretty good, are the not?
Can't believe that someone from the Atlantic thought this deserved a full article.
Personally I detest the free samples, I go to the store to shop, and shop as quickly as possible. Costco is hard enough to navigate through the crowds without having to deal with all the third worlders feeding their kids at the sample tables and blocking the aisles, and yeah I am kind of a *ick.
“Pinky and the Brain” almost took over the world with free T-shirts.
Stay alert. Be aware of your surroundings. Carry with safety off.
They DO require parents to give the kids permission - but you know how that goes.
My favorite are the 1/4 hamburgers they give out.
That and the icecream.
The samples are nice but some of the shoppers are brain dead in their quest for free eats. They mill around and block the aisle and are too absorbed in it to notice others trying to go around them and get on with their lives.
Personally, I don’t get it.
Yes, if it’s some product I’m interested in and would like to taste before purchasing a month’s supply, okay, but to load up simply because it’s free?
Pffft... Know what? I can afford to buy my own food without resorting to some impulse of hoarding gibmedats because it’s “free”.
Hey, if you didn’t do it, they’d probably just have to make more fresh ones and throw some out. You’re just doing your part to prevent waste :)
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