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Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

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Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#61

Post by klyrs »

JonChesterfield wrote: post #57

GitHub sponsored a coffee van at FOSDEM. That was a solid choice. Can't cost that much to run a van for the day (I see them in places with low footfall and the incremental material cost is low), quite low waste, widely appreciated by conference attendees. Also the queue was long so people spent a while in front of the logo, some of the time discussing GitHub.

A cheaper version of this, my favorite swag I've gotten in years was little boxes of smarties (Canadian m&m's, essentially -- not the chalk pills, we call those Rockets)

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#63

Post by igetspam »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #45
triyambakam wrote: post #10

I would tolerate swag more if it were actually quality. Like you mention, so much of it is junk. But I also hate logos on things I use, so it's only half the problem.

I got some branded swag for my startup for new customers. I literally made sure that the swag wasn't just usable but something people might actually use. For example, moleskine notebook [0], a metal parker pen[1], and a metal parker pencil. And even with it being good quality stuff, I am still worried when I give it out that it's just going to end up being tat that thrown in the bin. 0 - https://www.allbranded.co.uk/…

Great choices!

I got a really nice notebook from incident.io. I use a lot of notebooks and this one is pretty high quality. Please people, more notebooks and more pens. Preferably erasable gel pens. Those are fantastic.

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#64

Post by stickfigure »

Symbiote wrote: post #46
jedberg wrote: post #25

I think part of the problem is actually the shift away from shirts. Swag is advertising but at least a shirt served a purpose and if you didn’t want it you could donate it. Many company shirts ended up at Goodwill or shipped off the 3rd world countries. But shirts are expensive so no one gives them anymore. They’ve shifted to the cheapest items they can find. I usually turn down swag now and when I’m in charge of swa…

The tshirts, if they end up abroad, contribute to ruining the local textile industry. Many developing countries had local industry producing fabric and clothes, but they really struggle to compete with free or almost free waste Western clothes.

When you say "local textile industry" are you thinking of cotton growing, yarn spinning, fabric weaving, or shirt cutting/sewing? Because those are all totally different things done in totally different parts of the world. There is no longer such thing as "local textile industry". A single strand of cotton is better traveled than most of us.

Lots of great learning starts here: https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#65

Post by technick »

Getting swagged out is a right of passage for those entering tech. However, Comdex (RIP) was the gold pinnacle for swag. I remember Creative giving out mp3 players, Dell giving out laptops, Microsoft giving out keyboard / mice combinations, AMD giving out processors...

Now people have to be happy with some branded shitty USB cables, black shirts (90% of swag shirts are black for unknown reasons and made of 100% shitty cotton), stickers, branded candies (Hey Amazon, looking at you), and the occasional heat resistant gloves (splunk knows things get hot when presenting their obscene price to upper management).

I stopped accepting swag unless it's something unique and cool.

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#67

Post by fy20 »

dijit wrote: post #47

I actually have an issue currently; I run a volunteer IRC network and people beg me for swag (minor gift for recurring donations and so on). My issue is that I refuse to make shit. I want to test products before I inflict them on the people using my services, not only that I want my brand of service associated with high quality.

As a low value item, maybe stickers? But let people request them, don't send them automatically if someone donates.

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#68

Post by wink »

These topics are fascinating to read. I've not attended any conferences besides barcamps in Germany and FOSDEM since around 2012 - and I'm still kind of surprised about the (amount of shape of) things that are supposedly handed out, because most of the stuff I still have is actually useful, but that's only like 10 t-shirts and 1-2 mugs and some pens that were not completely useless, so apparently it has picked up in the last years, we didn't get nearly as much stuff 10y ago (which is good, don't get me wrong).

That said, I am totally ok with some of the USB sticks and my favorite bottle opener that's been sitting on my desk for years.

Would have loved to get a water bottle at some point though :P

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#69

Post by shoo »

triyambakam wrote: post #10

I would tolerate swag more if it were actually quality. Like you mention, so much of it is junk. But I also hate logos on things I use, so it's only half the problem.

> What people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion. This has resulted in a remorseless paring-down of what she can and will wear. She is, literally, allergic to fashion. She can only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She’s a design-free zone, a one-woman school of anti whose very austerity periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.

http://cyborganthropology.com/Cayce_Pollard_Unit

Re: Ask HN: Can we have a conversation on startup swag waste?

#70

Post by dijit »

fy20 wrote: post #67
dijit wrote: post #47

I actually have an issue currently; I run a volunteer IRC network and people beg me for swag (minor gift for recurring donations and so on). My issue is that I refuse to make shit. I want to test products before I inflict them on the people using my services, not only that I want my brand of service associated with high quality.

As a low value item, maybe stickers? But let people request them, don't send them automatically if someone donates.

We already have stickers, but people love high quality swag. :)
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