The Idea
I find it strange that companies give away cool stuff for free at events such as t-shirts, caps and even usb’s. So I thought, “Why not ask them for free stuff? It would be interesting to see which company is generous and cares about its customers and which only wants money!” Who doesn’t want a McDonalds shirt or special Coca Cola stickers? So that’s what I’m going to do, asking companies for freebies.
My Initial Goal
My original goal was a bit different than what I did in the end. When I started this experiment, I planned to search the internet for 100 companies that sent things for free. Easy right? No. This turned out to be much harder than I expected.
First of all, you had to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to most companies to receive ‘free’ stuff. This was not free and you also had no guarantee that your envelope would arrive.
Secondly, most companies were American and most of those American companies only sent their free stuff within the United States. So I kept looking.
My Modified Goal
Unfortunately I could not find 100 companies that, first of all, sent really free stuff, and secondly also outside the US. So I thought I shouldn’t have an exact number, but just contact as many companies as possible! And I also took random companies; fast food restaurants, clothing stores, shoe stores, car manufacturers, computer manufacturers, …
The Finished Product
About 5 hours later I had contacted about 30 companies so far, via email and forms, and I kept going. I contacted companies that were known for their freebies and companies that had not mentioned anywhere that they give freebees. Now I just had to sit back and wait for a response (or 30?)! This page will be updated when I get a response from a company, so this project is not ready yet!!
The List
| Company | Product | Response |
| Apple | Hardware & Software | Yes! They send me stickers |
| Arc’teryx | Clothing | Rejected! They no longer send stickers due to the high volume of sticker requests |
| Burger King | Fast Food | Only some stickers! |
| Calabasas Coffee Company | Coffee Producer & Seller (?) | I got a few stickers! |
| Chicmoto | Car Blog | They didn’t send anything! |
| Coca Cola | Soft Drinks | Rejected! They no longer send stickers on e-mail requests |
| Cotopaxi | Clothing | Rejected! They do not ship outside the US |
| Curiosityness | Radio(?) | I got some stickers |
| Dr. Pepper | Soft Drinks | Rejected! |
| Fish Hippie | Clothing | Rejected! They do not ship outside the US |
| Search Engine | Yes! They send me a Google USB (16gb) | |
| GoPro | Action Camera’s | They send me some stickers! |
| Intel | Computer Processors | Yes! They send me stickers |
| McDonald’s | Fast Food | Yes! They send me McFries socks and a coupon |
| Mercedes Benz | Car Manufacturer | They send me a keychain! |
| Over Under Clothing | Clothing | Rejected! They asked for a self-addressed, stamped envelope |
| Punisher Skateboards | Skateboard Manufacturer | No answer after a full year |
| Sparks Radio | Radio | Rejected! They do not ship outside the US |
| Sperry Top-Sider | Clothing | Rejected! They do not ship outside the US |
| Stoked Ride Shop | Skateboard Manufacturer | Some skateboard stickers |
| Zoo Cookies | Illustration (?) | Nothing |
Edit: unfortunately not all companies which I contacted responded.