The Power of Free Stuff

The vendors at farmers' markets are good at this. Just last week, when I was eyeing a table with a bunch of kinds of apples, the guy who was selling them handed me samples of each of them, while keeping up a patter of how their flavors compared ("this one is our tartest apple, this one is a little bit sweeter, and this one is the closest we have to a Winesap...") Now, I'll often take a sample (or two or three) from a table at a grocery store and then decline to buy the product without shame, but in the case of a personalized face-to-face schpiel, it takes more determination than I've got to turn around and say "No thanks, I don't think I'll buy any apples today." So I bought more apples than I otherwise would have, and probably more than I needed. Fortunately, apples stay fresh for a long time, so buying more last week means I can buy fewer this week. And thanks to the free samples, I know I bought the variety that I liked the best.

Johanna of MD 12:21PM September 18, 2009