The Chronic Consumer

Every once in a while, survey takers descend on the local mall and accost shoppers for their opinions about various products or services. In order to entice people to spend 10 minutes of their time filling out the forms, there’s usually a small gift handed out in exchange.

Personally, I’ll only take these surveys when the freebie is something that I can actually use. For example, marketing pens and t-shirts are great items that I never pass up. In my mind, you can never have too many pens or too many lounge-around-the-house shirts!

But if the gift is something like a water bottle, coffee mug, calendar, Frisbee, or 10% discount coupon with a minimum purchase requirement, I don’t bother. These aren’t things that I use regularly, so why waste my time on them?

I’ve received a good amount of swag over the years from taking surveys at the mall, so I recommend at least listening to the offer before making your decision!