Freebies! Are you pro or anti?

GreyQueen

:T Brilliant idea about giving the bags away, I bet the recipients are speechless! Talk about random acts of kindness, well done you.


I really dislike waste in all forms, but waste of things made from petrochemicals which cannot be recycled and will only clutter and pollute particularly saddens and annoys me. I feel I don't want to be a part of the freebie-go-round.


I am sharing some marigold seeds with an acquaintance this week, we were talking gardening and she was keen. I gathered them from my allotment into a re-purposed secondhand envelope, which I hope she'll recycle, lol. :rotfl:

uk_american

I always take a freebie if it will be helpful to someone else, otherwise I decline.

When I go to conferences for work everyone is trying to palm something off on you. I take the pens and notebooks but I leave the stress balls or plastic tat. The local Samaritans put out an appeal for office supplies and my teacher friend also will take them off my hands.

I happily accept any practical food items, our town has a growing homeless population and they will usually accept packaged food for later like sweets or breakfast bars.

I squirrel home all of those unopened hotel toiletries potentially going to waste. I've used them to fill hampers for pre-teen girls who like the different little bottles. Otherwise they go to a local church who fills up bags to distribute to the homeless or their emergency food pantry.

greenbee

uk_american wrote: »

I squirrel home all of those unopened hotel toiletries potentially going to waste. I've used them to fill hampers for pre-teen girls who like the different little bottles. Otherwise they go to a local church who fills up bags to distribute to the homeless or their emergency food pantry.

My hotel toiletries and airline amenity packs all go to the local night shelter too. Apparently the socks and earplugs are popular, and the toiletries can be added to the packs so everyone gets a full set of stuff with something to keep it in.

And as you say, the freebie packaged foods are also useful to add to these.

spender

I take what "freebies" can be put to definite good use. Toiletries from hotels (unopened) go to the local Women's refuge as most times they arrive without anything. Ditto soft new toys or anything suitable for little ones. But the drawer full of pens at home will last me several lifetimes over so I have stopped taking pens (unless they are very special).

I just realised I have been given loads of airline toiletries kits, reading the post above means I will now give them to the homeless shelters or perhaps the food banks for distribution. I hated throwing them out with the socks etc inside.

wondercollie

Can I make a suggestion regarding phone chargers?

If you a know a nurse or anybody that works on a hospital ward, ask if they can use them. The number of times we've been asked by patients for phone chargers is unreal.

We are also tired of losing our chargers when the patient "forgets" to give them back and takes them home. On my ward we only let patients use our chargers if we keep their phones at our workstation.

[Deleted User]

I too rarely see or get freebies, but on the odd occasion if they are going to be useful I will happily take them.

Last freebie I had was when I was at my local hospital auditory clinic, and there was a stall by the door where a very nice young man collared me and said would I like one of the cloth shopping bags .I said Oh thank you they are rather nice .so I duly pocketed it On arriving home I thought Mmm I'll put it in the boot of the car to use for my shopping .Looking at it more closely it said emblazoned on the side Stop Violence Against the Elderly !!! I must have looked a bit timid :):)But no matter turned inside out its been handy for vegetables as I dislike buying pre packed veg and prefer if possible to buy loose.

Much to the supermakets annoyance as when I have to buy tomatoes or virtually anything that I can't buy loose I will pay for it and empty into my cloth bag and leave the plastic wrapping with them.I have a strong dislike of uneccessary packaging and was getting shot of it for several years before its suddenly become fashionable to do so in the shops .:) I was thought of by the assistants as a little strange at times I think. But have been a great admirer of recycling long before it became popular But then I was born and brought up in the age of champion recyclers being a war time child and make do and mend was second nature.

I get cross with all the 'freebie ' (or guilt trip) cards that are sent through the post, sometimes with drinks mats and pens or bookmarks.

I make my own Christmas cards for my immediate family and the rest what I would have possibly spent on cards and postage I donate to the Sally Army appeal. All my friends know this and my card list at Chrismas has shrunk down considerably to what it used to be. After all almost 14/- for a stamp to send a bit of cardboard seems far too excessive to me and that cash can do more good for someone who is homeless or without family at Christmas.My eldest DD works for a large company and often gets piles of junk sent to her which she trys to pass on to other places I sometimes get her note pads which come in useful for my pub quiz team:)
But its rare we see any food samples in my area at all.

Although county fairs do sometimes offer nibbles but like GQ I am always a bit wary about having food thats possibly been handled by the great unwashed

[Deleted User]

My husband does a lot of 10k races and sponsors are often very generous with freebies. His eyes light up like a little boy when he opens his ‘goodie bag.`

Hard_Up_Hester

Trolley coins are the one freebie I'm grateful for.

LameWolf

GreyQueen wrote: »

LameWolf, thanks, was grinning at the idea of Mr LW accelerating your wheelchair dramatically as he headed towards the handout.

He does the same thing when chuggers hove into view, too. To quote a line from the "Dragon Age: Origins" computer game, "He's got a pretty good turn of speed for an old guy". :rotfl:

I've only just remembered, back in March 2015, we went on a cruise to experience the Total Solar Eclipse, and a freebie in each cabin was a very nice hard-backed notebook and pen. I duly brought ours home, and it sat around for two years, until I did an online course on First Aid For Dogs. Then it came in extremely useful for my course notes; and being hardback, it won't get tatty with me leafing through it every so often so that I don't forget what I learned.

Caterina

Ilona wrote: »

Oh dear, I give away freebies. I make cloth shopping bags and take a couple with me when I go to Tesco. There is always someone who has not brought a bag with them so I hand them one of mine and say, here, take this one, it's free. The look of surprise on their face makes me smile. Occasionally someone says no thank you, but mostly they are chuffed and take it.

ilona

That's like Morsbags (look it up for info) but without the label! A friend and I used to make lots of these Morsbags and gave them away near the shops, but a lot of people refused them, suspicious of our intentions. This was a few years back. Now that there is more awareness around plastic bags, we might restart doing the free ones!