What has happened to the FREEBIE circuit?
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
January 1, 2011 9:14pm CST
I have always been a freebie person...watching and picking up things free samples etc..even rebates.
When the foreclosure/recession hit in 2008 - I went for the entire year and never bought things like toothpaste, mouthwash,deodarant, shampoo/rinse, soaps, laundry soap, lotions..things like that, because there was always an offer for a free sample of it. A sample usually lasted 3-4 times of use. I swear, I didn't buy any of those things for a year or so.
Now, I hardly see them in the "old places" I always found them in and the new places...don't seem to have much lately either. Boy, Walmart had some great ones...all the time!
So what has been your experience with finding freebies? I miss the "good old days!"
5 people like this
14 responses
@happythoughts (4109)
• United States
7 Feb 11
For Christmas this year I made my family 72 hour kits and tried to fill them with sample sized items. I had a hard time finding them. It seemed like the freebies were going away. I wonder why? Even now I have had a hard time finding freebies here and there. The coupons have been of less value too. It must be hard times for the companies that send these out as well and its trickeling down to coupons and freebies.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
8 Feb 11
I think they know we get hooked on the coupons helping us and then they stop! I know that their coupon/sample "budget" is set and if it isn't used up at the end of the year it goes to a "slush" fund and can be used for anything, and still wrote off income taxes as a deduction. But oh well,,,coupons used to be fantastic years ago. Now, they aren't much, but I guess we all still buy anyway.
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
10 Jan 11
They all seem to be tied up with these scam sites where they make you sign up for stuff to get the samples and then they don't send them. I still manage to find a couple of good ones on occasion. I posted a couple on Gather a couple of days ago. Here is the post if you are interested. I would like to find more too. I love free samples. Walmart still does them. They are usually really fast about delivering them too. Here is the link: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978891661
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Jan 11
Thanks. I'll take a look. I forget about Walmart lately as they for a while there had only things i didn't want. But I need to go back and check. I don't even waste my time with the ones where you have to give your total identity and sign up for them...eversave is like that I think. But those are just scams to get your info to sell to others. Not worth it just for a coupon.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
3 Jan 11
There aren't as many freebies as there used to be. I wonder if we've created the problem ourselves. The purpose of offering free samples of products is to convince the consumer that it was good enough to buy. Freebie junkies like ourselves don't always even intend to buy a product after receiving a free sample.
I miss the "good old days" too. I used to keep a well stocked toiletry pantry, but not so any more.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
4 Jan 11
Don't feel guilty. They offer the sample/freebie and no where does it say you have request it only if you are interested in purchasing it later or only if you are interested in changing brands or anything. A sample is a sample. At stores they have food samples...I always take on with no intent on buying the item. They are usually for things that are to expensive anyway! But guilt? Nah, never. But there have been a few that I did like enough to go buy it when I needed a "refill".
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
3 Jan 11
Nah. A sample is a sample. Yes they want us to buy the item, and sometimes we do...but I don't think we caused the shortage! I think they did more samples when the recession was in full swing thinking it'd make us buy, but common sense says you do samples with the intent to buy when things are good and people could afford to buy something new or try something. Recession times...we don't like to waste and tend to use what we know so as not to have to throw something out if it "doesnt work" and there by wasting money.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
8 Feb 11
I dont' know anything about US/Canada samples. Shame that you don't get them tho.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
26 Jan 11
I have just started on the freebie's circuit and so can't say for sure how it was before compared to now. I have searched before and it did seem a bit better, now though I am looking mostly for makeup samples and there are an okay quality of cosmetics / beauty aids. As for cleaning supplies not as many.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
8 Feb 11
KInd of goes in spirts....2 years ago I got so many shampoo/conditioner and deodarant and toothpaste sample forms all name brands, that I literally almost went a full year without buying any of thses items! Now that they have stopped...and I have noticed that these brands are now on the shelves...maybe once they start their next "improvement" stage...the samples will come back!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
4 Jan 11
There are still some freebies to be had, but it isn't nearly as easy to find them, and most of the time when you are able to find them, they aren't nearly as beneficial as the ones that we used to be able to find. The last freebie that I was able to get was a bottle of Advil. This isn't something that I use on a regular basis, but it is something that is great to have in the home when I get in one of those phases with sinus headaches.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
5 Jan 11
Yeah I know! I see a free Extra strength Excedrin about every other week, but when I go there...they are "all out".
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
• United States
10 Jan 11
I see that too with Excedrin. They put out minimal quantities to move traffic to their site.
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
2 Jan 11
I haven't gotten nearly as many freebies lately. I think I will spend some time this week looking really hard for them, but they used to be so easy to find.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Jan 11
They used to be all over the place. I have now even gone to the search engine and gone to a brand name to find a specific item coupon and they just aren't there!
@llwilkins (384)
• United States
13 Apr 11
I feel the same way you do. I created a freebie blog that has great freebies. These are ones that you don't have to do any promotions to get. So if you want to you can go to my blog and enjoy. http://yeahfreebies.blogspot.com. I try the freebies out before I post these to my blog to make sure that you don't have to complete any programs in order to get any of the freebies.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
5 Jan 11
I did freecycle once... had a bunch of stuff to give away...posted it..got response and I said it'd be on the porch at 8am for them to come get. NO one showed up and I pulled it back into the house at 5pm. Contacted them with email saying "where are you, do you still want it" and they'd say yes, tomorrow and I'd do the same thing and they still didn't show up so I never said anything else, just posted the stuff again..this happened to me on 3 different occassions with 3 different bunches of stuff and I finally just gave up and called Diaabled Vets to come get it and they were there the very next pick up day.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
5 Jan 11
I haven't seen a food sample thing in the grocery for a long long time. And even the Walmart freebies are not as good as they used to be. Oh well... all good things usually do come to an end!
@oneidmnster (1384)
• United States
2 Jan 11
You can still find some decent freebies if you look in the right places.Granted,they are few and far between,but you can get some.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Jan 11
I see a few here and there, just not as many as year or so ago. I miss them!
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
2 Jan 11
I've always found it best to belong to a group on Yahoo or even some of the bloggers out there have many of the good finds. And of the bloggers I usually follow them on FB so there's plenty of posts on the latest freebies and finds.
I've tried to post the good ones on the Freebies discussion board but I haven't done much posting in some time on there. As you said finding a good freebie is hard to come by as they used to and or they seem to come in spurts.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
3 Jan 11
I was on a few, but either they didn't have things I used or I already had the sample/freebie/coupon. I have a few places online that have them, just not as many as used to be!
@buggles64 (2709)
• United States
4 Jan 11
I think they are still out there, we just have to look for them a little harder. There are a lot of bloggers that seem to have a "head's up" on these matters, so you might want to check them out if you're looking for some free samples. otherwise, you can get some really good deals by using manufacturer's coupons.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
5 Jan 11
I have even gone to the web site of specific items I use alot or want to use and they stopped putting even coupons on the sites anymore! I have checked out lot of blogs, but even when times were good...they didn't have anything I didn't already have or know about and now...they don't seem to post as often or as much as they used to.
