Okay, put on your steel-toed boots. I’m about to step on some toes here. Recently I had a college-aged friend confide to me that she and her roommate had a standing date for lunch at Costco‘s on Saturday morning. I told her how much I liked their pizza and she snickered. “Not the pizza, silly, the samples.” Now, I know this person well and the only thing in her dorm room is Cup O’ Noodles and orange juice. I doubt that she’s ever bought any of the products being demo-ed on those Saturday mornings. Even once. Her attitude is that they’re free for the taking.
My mother always told us, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” There really isn’t. Those free samples my friend is eating are figured into a company’s advertising budget. True, they only pay the demonstrators slightly above minimum wage (with no benefits, but that’s another blog), but their costs are still substantial. Someone is paying for her free lunch. Know who it is? It’s the customer who actually buys the product. My friend’s “free” lunch is being subsidized.
If there’s any possibility whatsoever that you might buy something, by all means, go ahead and sample it. That‘s what it’s there for. To introduce to potential consumers a new product, or one that they haven’t tried. To expand their customer base. They don’t expect a huge initial return on their investment. Not everyone who tries the product will buy that day, or ever, even. But some will. 
Don’t get me wrong here. I love free stuff! It’s my favorite price. But getting something just for the sake of getting it because it’s free actually makes prices go up. The money for that free stuff has to come from somewhere. So the next time you’re reading the Free Stuff blog here, ask yourself if it’s something you need, want, or will use. Or is it something that you just want because it’s free? Okay, Melis…er, my “friend”, you can take off the boots and put your tennies back on now.