Still crazy about those freebies

I was leafing through the most recent edition of AARP The Magazine the other day. It was not my copy, of course, but one that had been passed along to me by my grandparents. No, really … I mean it. Well, regardless of origin, I enjoy reading this popular niche periodical, and this month was no exception.

I even managed to garner a few laughs from a feature about saving money on the Internet. It almost sounded like this was a new idea to the writers. While the text was well researched, easily read and full of good tips, I had to chuckle, knowing that longtime readers of The Wire and Untangled Web, and those old friends who date back to the days of Random Access have been pocketing cash and hauling in free swag for years.

Yes, we are the kings and queens of free loot on the Internet. We have been saving money on automotive fuels, lowering the acquisition cost of household goods with coupons and enjoying freebies since the good old days before the dot-com meltdown.

I get all misty-eyed thinking back to the golden age of Internet freebies, when companies had more startup money than sense and sought only to bring people to their websites in droves. Every day was like my birthday as I opened the snail mail box to find free DVDs, baseball caps, stuffed animals, samples of household cleaning products and even three-packs of boxer shorts.

I shared those wonderful opportunities with you, my loyal readers, and we have been touching on the Internet freebie phenomenon regularly ever since. While the game has changed considerably since the salad days, it is still great fun to save a few bucks or to score some free loot by forking over little more than your mailing address. Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, and let’s dig up some loot.

http://walmart.triaddigital.com/Free-Samples.aspx

There are so many sites out there looking to fleece you in your quest for freebies that it pays to deal with reputable companies. Like Wal-Mart or not, it’s hard to dispute the commanding position it holds in the marketplace. I was happy to learn that it now has an online freebie presence that is totally scam-free.

I visited the site after finding a free shampoo offer. All I had to enter was my snail-mail address, and while they did have a line for e-mail information, it was optional, making it my choice to receive promotional mailings and offers in the future. Since I was using my free-stuff-sleuthing e-mail address, I agreed.

Having scored the shampoo, I pressed on a bit farther. Had I been a makeup user I could have availed myself of a revolutionary new foundation. I did sign up for a free sample of skin lotion that promised to heal my rough dry skin without being greasy. We all know that banging away at the keyboard all day can really beat up the hands, and I was anxious to give it a try.

I passed on offers for contact lenses and incontinence products, but accepted one for a new facial product. I could have large pores and not even know it. This site presented me with an opportunity to get them back into normal conformation without expending a cent.

The first stop on my freebie hunt was a resounding success, yielding me three name-brand products and leads on other goodies. Best of all, I didn’t get lured into giving too much info, conned into subscribing to magazines, or blindsided by a credit card application after filling out a dozen other screens. Wal-Mart is the best for freebie fans, thereby earning five rolled-back spiders.

www.freestuffchannel.com

Freebie hunting is not the same game that it was back in the ’90s. There are so many scamsters out there looking to get your info and rob you blind that you really must be careful. Never, ever give up any sensitive information, especially your Social Security number, credit card number, or any PINs that you may have, online. This site seemed to list only fair and square freebie offers.

The Free Stuff Channel pointed me at some of the deals we will look at in the next section. I found a number of goodie sites that are now entered in my browser’s favorites folder under Free Stuff, and I never once had to reveal a thing about myself. The people behind this freebie site seem ready to share the wealth without helping themselves to the contents of your wallet.

No freebie site is completely immune to scammers, of course. Still, the Free Stuff Channel seemed to have more than its share of licit offers, usually from the product’s manufacturer or a reputable and well-known retailer. I found a lot of familiar names here and signed up without fear.

I took a break to load up on a free sample of Kaboom before continuing my trek through the wilds of the World Wide Web in search of freebies. I seemed to find myself coming back to the Free Stuff Channel again and again, and usually finding some good loot. For bringing myriad mooching morsels to the panhandling public, www.freestuffchannel.com filches five spiders.

Five-spider roundup

It was a real frenzy of freebies by the time I got finished researching this column. I got a delightful jazz sampler CD from legendary label Blue Note Records at www.bluenote.com/paste/. Being a Type II diabetic, I signed up for a free sample of Boost Glucose Control Nutritional Drink at www.howidodiabetes.com.

A pet-loving friend of mine got a free, safe can of Mighty Dog dog food at www.mightydog.com. To keep my own coat silky smooth I grabbed a sample of Pantene restorative shampoo at https://pantenerestoratives.offerprocessingcenter.com/, again without giving up any sensitive information.

My old friend www.startsampling.com lined me up with a free sample of Nautica cologne and hooked me up with a new supplement to improve joint function as well. I even managed to grab a free subscription to a popular magazine at www.tokyopop.com/register.php.

What a haul! Before quitting I touched Hewlett Packard up for some free Color Inkjet paper at www.ipcommercialprinting.com/Samples/HPSample.asp?id=2. It was truly a banner day of leeching, and I intend to do it again very soon. All of the above mentioned sites deserve recognition, and with gratitude I convey a joint award of five freebie spiders.

Use a little common sense when you select which online freebie offers to accept. Other than Santa Claus, few concerns are likely to actually give you a free iPod or Wii just for filling out a few surveys. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Still, I managed to stock up on goodies, and you can too. If you find any good free scores out there, I would love to hear about them. Share your scrounging secrets with me by e-mail to granese@juno.com.