Yes, for a set of skincare products. One of the products was a sebum control serum that just did magic, I’ve never seen anything else like it. No more pimples no more blackheads no excess oil and just in three days. Unfortunately it’s discontinued now 😭 but yeah that’s my bought after the sample story
I was just about to ask the name of the product and then got to the end of your comment and became immensely depressed. I’m tired of feeling excessively oily and what you described sounded like a dream product.
I feel like many people could list any number of drugs here…
Yeah.
Mini story.
Back in the day, me and my best friend got on a mailing list for samples. We didn’t do it intentionally, but it ended up being pretty cool. We’d get all kinds of stuff. Some of it was shit, some was good, the way you’d expect.
But over the years, those samples worked. Sensodyne, the toothpaste for example. Tried a sample, and since it’s as good as anything else as toothpaste, the fact that I preferred the taste more than most was enough to switch.
But the cool shit was when they’d ask for feedback. Sometimes you’d get full sized freebies.
One of those was the candy, take 5. A pretzel with caramel, covered in chocolate. This was before they were for sale. We tried the samples, sent in the little card, and a few weeks later got boxes in the mail full of the samples, asking us to get other people to try it. So, we did, and those people usually sent the cards that came in the box the we gave them.
Turned out that the little number on the card was our number. So, when people sent in the cards with feedback, they knew it was us doing their marketing for them (that’s what the whole thing is, it wasn’t just them being nice). Well, another month or two passed, and we see them in stores. And we would buy them here and there, because they are insanely good, if a tad too sweet overall.
Then, we got more boxes from them, packed with the full sized packages, plus a whole booklet of coupons, and a surprisingly nice little form letter of thanks. It ended up being something like fifty free packages, twenty free coupons plus another twenty of half price.
What I like about this is it’s sincere… you liked something, got to share it, and it got onto shelves. Now everything feels like a scam.
I played the free demo of Factorio for about 10 hours and got hooked. Waited a bit to see if the price would go down, but it didn’t and I didn’t care. Bought it at full price and sunk a few hundred hours into it, which is some of the best entertainment ROI from a cost/hours perspective. It turned out to be a bad ROI from a general life perspective since I didn’t do much else during that time, so be careful to not get too addicted.
FYI, the Factorio devs have stated that the game will never go on sale
Winrar and mIRC are pretty good but I’m not quite sure yet…
Back in the 90s when PC GAMER magazine would include demo CDs, there were a handful of games I liked enough to go buy the full game.
Some furniture wax. And I still use it, I just bought two more tins.
Does marriage count?
/s
Shareware, AKA “try before you buy”, now known as free game demos.
My first one was DOOM on 3.5” floppy disks. I remember my dad asking “What’s this I.D. software you ordered?”
I was in NYC for Pride the other year and got a sample of a cannabis drink made by a new-at-the-time company Cycling Frog. Flavor is good for a seltzer type drink, and the inebriation level is tailored to be about equal to 1-2 alcoholic beverages, which makes it easy to dose. Hubby and I loved it and bought a couple of cans on the spot. They are now available in dispensaries near us, and we still pick up a case every few months.
Cycling frog is lit. I don’t think I’ve had any of their seltzers but their huckleberry gummies are great.
I don’t go to Costco but every few years and I went hungry with a friend who has membership and bought too many of the samples I had
- Cracked Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 to full Minecraft Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5. (I don’t like Microsoft and Notch is a Nazi)
- Cheese (before I was vegan. I kinda miss free food sampling)
- Monthly countrywide public transit ticket (well 9€ wasn’t free, but for a net of 39,000 km railway alone plus every other PT except HSR, it basically is). 49€ now, 58€ in 2025 (=> Subsidy regimes are not on parity to motorised individual traffic)
- Library subscription
Costco samples sometimes. Doesn’t happen often though. I think the last time was this huge bag of popcorn that was actually really good.
Same. The first one was a box of 20+ single serving guacamole pots. It was excellent for a non freshly made version and we had it with chips or raw veg most days for the next couple of weeks. Despite looking for it every time we go back, it hasn’t been available since that first time.
The Chicago style popcorn?! 🤤
Creators!
No lol. Just regular popcorn and certain flavors. This is in Canada, so it might be different for you.
Video games, for sure.
Sometimes when I go into the big booze store for wine. If they have samples of a type I’m looking for and it tastes ok, I might buy. They’re usually sampling wines at very acceptable price points.
I always test drive cars before buying.
I change hobbies like I change my clothes. So to keep from sinking way too much into every new hobby, I try to borrow or rent for a bit before buying to make sure it’s a hobby that I will stick with. Example, I picked up dragonboat racing this summer but declined to buy my own $120 paddle and used the clubs slightly heavier, older, paddles that are a little big for me. If I keep going with the team next year, I might buy a paddle. But first will buy a new PFD so I don’t have to wear one of their “one size fits all but it’s going to ride up halfway to u/Vanth’s ears” lifejackets.
Video games, for sure.
