Free Samples

[MCBuggyCo]

I made a run to a commercial bakery today and just as I was about to pull away one of the bakery workers said "here" and thrust a case of goodies into my hands. My instinct was to say "thank you" and be on my way but I got to thinking later, is this typical? Is it company policy to treat drivers in this way? Has anyone else been offered any samples? I didn't even know what was in the box when I took it but I was pleasantly surprised to find $20 worth of nutty bars! Anybody want one?

 

[P51bombay]

Depends on the company but I'd say not uncommon at all, there is chocolate factory around here that has a "trucker box" with sample chocolate's and cookie/chocolate combo's. Same thing at a screwdriver manufacturer that's always giving me samples. I pick up at a rope factory and they have a give away box the size of a standard skid and 4ft high, free for the taking, mostly end of the rolls but I've got several hundred $ worth of (high quality) rope which I use with those rope ratchets for tying stuff down. I know other places that will let you buy at wholesale - bikes, kayaks, etc.

 

[MCBuggyCo]

SWEET!!!!!!!

 

[Moot]

Ah, free samples and gifts. I can't recall being on the receiving end of gifts as an expediter. Maybe because I don't spend much time at either the shipper or consignee. Rush, rush, don't you know.

In my truckload days it was hauling loads of beer out of Schmidt brewery in St. Paul. $1.50 got you soup, sandwich, chips and a beer. Not exactly free, but a heck of a deal.

Truckload also opened up a world of overages; diapers, garbage bags, peanut butter and dog food. I hauled Honda and Yamaha motorcycles out of the Chicago area but never had an overage. I wonder why that was?

In my LTL days I had a regular early morning pick up at a company that manufactured high end hair care products for salons and also for the consumer market. Occasionally I would be asked to spot or pull a trailer out of the dock for them. After completing the task I was presented with a box full of a variety of shampoo, hair spray, gel etc. Christmas usually found me with two full boxes of hair care products. Quite the gift for a bald guy. My family and neighbors appreciated it though!

Pearson Candy in St. Paul always had a box full of Nut Rolls, Nut Goodies or Pearson Mints free for the taking in the shipping office.

I think my all time favorite was EverFresh Foods, makers of China Boy chow mein noodles. There's nothing quite like the taste of fresh, hot chow mein noodles only minutes old.

I also delivered to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. I never got any free samples from those people.

Sometimes just showing interest in a company's product resulted in a free sample. Except with Honda, Yamaha and the Federal Reserve. Oh well!

 

[layoutshooter]

We ran a load for Hickory Farms just before Christmas. It was a nightmare, boxes everywhere do to bad loading at a place we could not watch and the load was sealed before I could check. We did a hand unload of the truck and then reloaded the second stop by hand as well. We were presented with a meat and cheese tray as thanks for the extra work. Made a great lunch . We told dispatch about it and informed them that the company would not get thier share since we ate it all. They all had a good laugh over that. Made a tough day better. Layoutshooter

 

[Jefferson3000]

Ah yes. Samples! Goodies galore! When I lived in California, I used to pick up at this cookie bakery (in Stanton, if I remember correctly). I always received a few packages for myself. One nutrition place I visited gave me around $250.00 worth of protein bars at one time. We did sports T-shirt runs after the big championship games. many times I received Superbowl shirts. It's definitely NOT unusual.

Sorry Moot, I never got any motorcycles either.

 

[greg334]

I have ended up with a lot of food.

I had a load to a resort in Colorado and got a weeks worth of food. All freshly made that was not put out for a conference, it was all going in the dumpster.

I was at Smuckers and got several 'samples' just for being nice and helping them unload my truck. I ended up with three cases of soda from some soda company in CA, it was interesting because I brought them the flavoring that they ran out of and I got the first batch off the line. I hauled labels for Gallo Vinyards, got an invite to one of their processing centers and ended up with 5 pound of grapes and a gallon of grape juice - but no wine

I sometime end up with promo items, like hats for some reason - lots of hats - sometimes I end up with nothing.

The people at Toyota gave me some promo models and Honda gave me a box full of stuff that included shirts, hats and even a pair of Honda slippers.

What is better than samples to me are tours. I toured the KW plant, Peterbilt and Volvo plants, power plants and a lot of other places that were just amazing - oh and the Harley plants. This past week I got a tour of a place where they make coal mining equipment and found out that the local mines have 'tours', just got to call the plant manager and he will arrange it.

Moot, I was wondering about the overages. In the last two weeks I was offered tools, parts and even yogurt from truck drivers who said it was left on their truck. I thought they were kidding me but I guess it must be an overage.

 

[butterfly610]

Once we delivered at Cadbury Adams in Rockford, Il and they gave me a whole bunch of gum. Two hairnets full of gum, and like three boxes that were unopened. I enjoyed it!

The coolest thing we ever got though, was when my husband drove a big truck. We picked up a load at a rock show in Arizona. It was a really strange, but really neat place. The guy running the booth we hauled for gave me two big rock lamps, and a bottle of gold flakes that he told us would bring us good luck, and would keep us from ever getting divorced. I always joke and tell my husband when I see that little bottle, "this is why you're stuck with me." The lamps were a really neat little gift. A rock with the light inside of it.

I like free samples!

 

[arrbsthw]

We got a couple boxes of cookies / crackers from Keebler when we
picked up there. Ate them All!

 

[Crazynuff]

When I drove for a corrugated box company in MA I delivered to a wholesale florist and they'd always give drivers some nice flowers . But these were day trips and the girls and the office knew about it . Guess who got the flowers .

 

[Moot]

Moot, I was wondering about the overages. In the last two weeks I was offered tools, parts and even yogurt from truck drivers who said it was left on their truck. I thought they were kidding me but I guess it must be an overage.

Seems to be a lot of overages in the truckload segment. I often picked up at Mobil Chemical in Jacksonville, Ill. Nasty place! When it was finally your turn to load, they gave you a dock assignment and made you spot the trailer and unhook. No drivers allowed on the dock to supervise the loading. These loads were usually 3 to 7 drops, a variety of plastic garbage bags, dry cleaning bags, etc. I always ended up with overages.

LTL was different. If you had an overage it usually meant that another terminal and customer would be short. All overages were returned to the terminal and the OS@D clerk would try and sort it out. No freebies.