Comments on: Should I accept free stuff?

By: Lindsay Murray

Lindsay Murray — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 01:04:12 +0000

While I haven’t thoroughly read through all 18 comments, I’m going on a limb here and suggesting you don’t take free stuff.

I have become disenchanted with blogs I used to follow as soon as they started accepting freebies and their blogs have become more about profit and gain and less about sharing their passion and connecting with others.

I’m more interested in how you’re going to do this on a limited budget, like the rest of us. It’s a test and that’s what interests me. I’m looking for practical tips on how I can become a smarter consumer of Canadian made goods and use your experience to help motivate me, like a “Hey! If he can do it, I can do it”.

Or maybe I’ve misunderstood the objective of your challenge.

By: nancy (aka moneycoach)

nancy (aka moneycoach) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:38:29 +0000

I’m with the Go For It crowd.
It seems to me one of the reasons we (readers) come here is to learn what is possible re: buying Canadian. Whether you got it for free or purchased it, we’re still getting exposure to products.
And the snow-shoes — go for that *especially*!

By: Scott Anderson

Scott Anderson — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:13:10 +0000

Interesting project (always been curious about this), and an interesting consideration here. I have to agree with the majority of comments, that accepting freebies, so long as there is complete transparency, is perfectly fine — if you can capitalize on a good idea, it would be silly not to, as long as you manage the potential impact on the integrity of the project. (Maybe periodic product comparisons, freebies vs. alternatives…?)

Ms. Keenan raises a very interesting point, though, which I hadn’t thought of but is pretty significant… I still say go for the freebies, but tracking what the expenses would have been as a “regular” citizen trying this seems as though it should be a major aspect of the overall experiment. (Even if you were to track the “recommended retail price.”) I wouldn’t discount the importance or impact of the economic factor.

By: Steve A

Steve A — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:44:26 +0000

Whatever you decide– if MEC gives you anything for free make sure you take it– from a keychain to a kayak– TAKE IT!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:22:12 +0000

The best thing was to ask your readership, now we know that you are receiving freebies and that you’re going to remain objective so I say go with it. Who couldn’t use from free stuff, am I right?

By: karen Hawley

karen Hawley — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:15:08 +0000

Free stuff! go for it!

I don’t think the project becomes compromised from an economical-viability perspective – unless the free product would last the full year. We just need to be sure that the research goes on and that a product that is no better than others that meet the same criteria is favoured. It might even give you an opportunity to do some product comparison.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 07:38:49 +0000

Thanks for the comments everybody. I’d definitely be down with full disclosure–that’s what I typically do on DB.com.

While I’m going to talk about economics from time to time, I don’t plan on measuring all project-related expenses.

By: Andre

Andre — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:05:47 +0000

Sheila Keenan

That was my first reaction! All comments thus far have brought forth very strong arguments for accepting freebies; however, as stated by Sheila, the project becomes compromised from an economically-viable perspective once freebies are thrown into the mix… All depends on your goal(s)! Sure is difficult to turn away free swag!

I do find it interesting that you would leave this decision for “us” to make, given the nature of the project.

By: Zoeyjane

Zoeyjane — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:14:27 +0000

I’d suggest going ahead with the freebies – it doesn’t compromise the project, unless one of the intents is to see if you CAN afford to live purely Canadian. If so, throw however much it retails for in a discretionary account and tally it up at the end of the year along with the expenses you did pay for.

Personally, if there’s disclosure in place, I would think that a review of some sort – especially when it mentions other-branded products available – inclusive of price points and honest opinion is kosher.

Why not, right? If you trust yourself to remain critical of products and companies and you’re being this forthright, why shouldn’t we?

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:52:40 +0000

That’s the hard part, isn’t it? We’ve recently changed our dishwasher detergent and liquid soup over to a Vancouver made product (in a refillable/returnable bottle) and had to swallow a massive jump in price (per load) to do so – if we did that with everything (all at once) it would certainly kill our budget in a big way!