Are you a sucker for the free sample?  Because I write a laundry blog, guess what I get free samples of…yeah soap.  Big thrill.  Although one time the ad agency for TIDE sent me a really cool t-shirt.  I wonder if I wrote a handbag blog or maybe just an all Anthropologie (my favorite, over-priced, super cool store) blog if I’d get any more exciting samples.  I doubt it.  I’m not a huge free sample fan.

The plastic-gloved gray-haired ladies in the grocery store do not make the crab spread on crackers look too appetizing to me.  My kids on the other hand run from sample to sample, hunting down the grandmas with the cookie and ice cream tastes. But I do like the stuff that comes in the mail.  Remember when we used to get mini bottles of mouthwash or shampoo attached to the Sunday paper?  What happened to those?  Maybe perceived chemical weapons threat?  What is it about free stuff, even a plastic cup of yogurt with active cultures that makes us want to scarf it down? 

No need to commit.  That’s what samples do for me.  I’m obligated to my laundry detergent, ground flax seed, orange juice with pulp and calcium, and contact solution.  These are products I trust and must buy.  But the free sample gives me permission to experiment.  Like a blind date, it may be a pleasant evening and you may go out again, but as in my blind date history, I usually can’t wait to be done. 

We’re addicted to new stuff.  That’s why products are always changing.  If not adding more dried strawberries to the box or flavor crystals to the gum, then just the packaging changes.  We need change and the free sample is out there roping us in.  Well there is the sample’s less exciting cousin, the coupon, to help out, but we know where the action really is. 

There are all kinds of web-sites and blogs that offer free samples.  But honestly, I’m not that lured by new products to check them out.  Really I only want samples of stuff I already like. I’d rather see the chocolate lady show up at my door around four everyday, with a sample.  Or how about the Starbucks barista standing at the red light?  Yeah, I’d roll down my window for a free mocha.  But unfortunately the last free sample I got was for Tide’s Lavender Scented Detergent.  I tried it, but I’m sticking with the industrial box of regular scent.  But if they decide to sample up a laundress or laundry room-sized flat screens, then I’ll check those out.