AIBU to wonder why supermarkets don't do those free sample stalls anymore?

[dodobedo]

Does anyone remember when supermarkets used to give out free samples, especially for new products. There would be someone behind a temporary stand giving out free chocolate or anything edible really.

It's been years since I saw this. Why don't they do it anymore

I saw one just the other week.
They have them all the time.

There was one in my local Sainsburys on Tuesday, handing out little thimbles of Lillet! Was very tasty!

I havent seen one since before covid!

Tesco had fridge raiders last week

I saw one on Sunday - see them quite often in my local Sainsbury!

They do in Costco. I used to love it in Dublin there was always loads in the 80s and 90s.

A lot of the time it's a separate marketing company doing samples of new products. I used to do that for work. It was actually really fun. I'd have happily done sampling full time! I don't really know why it doesn't happen much in supermarkets anymore.

Covid put paid to them

There was one in Asda just today.

They do - in fact I saw one last week.

Our local Sainsbury's has them fairly often.

I'd love that sort of job too! Never see them advertised though.

|Nice to hear that it's still going on in some places although I definately haven't seen any here since before Covid.

We do it in the shop I work in, We were tasting burgers, chops and sausages!

Unless it's own label, it's the brands, not the supermarkets who pay for it. They're not spending their marketing budgets on things like that as much anymore. There are better ways to reach people and to sample than someone putting a morsel of food in little plastic pots nowadays.

Not here but small town small branches

Waitrose do 1 every Saturday, normally biscuits and 1 midweek which is anything from apples to gin

Booths locally do them a couple of times a week at least.

My local booths has a stall with samples every saturday, plus samples at the cheese counter. I go for lunch…

Costco is jammed with them, so much so that navigating through with a (jumbo sized) trolly is a nightmare as people congregate around them.
I prefer to go there after 6pm as they have packed up by then.

I usually get samples with my shopping delivery. On Monday I got 3 pouches of new Bulgogi sauce

Because the cost to brands outweighs the benefits. Why would you sample to a few hundred people a day when there are now better and more easier ways to sample e.g through digital requests. There you can sample to thousands and not pay for someone to stand at a stall all day.

Have them here

I work in a supermarket and there hasn’t been tastings since Covid.

There were two nice young men or lads in my local Waitrose recently, just after opening.
They were at a tasting stand tucking into bread dipped in cups of olive oil, like they were starving. I was just thinking "weird breakfast" when they looked at me and laughed as though they agreed.

I remember as a kid asda used to have people walking round with trays of hot pizza to promote the ‘design your own pizza’ counter. Asda was my favourite place 😃
As others have said, costco do loads but it’s very controlled, or it was when I was there recently. Just two or three samples released every so often, I guess people can be greedy with it.

Must put my specs on at this time of night to browse on my phone, I thought that said lilets as in the tampons!! I have no idea what lillet is but definitely not tampons 😂

op my nearest Sainsbury’s has one of these almost every time I go. Usually in the drinks or crisps aisle. I give it a wide berth, there’s always crowds of people just loitering and getting in my way! But they definitely do still exist.