William Chops Westfield wrote:
> What with ESC going on this week, I am reminded how ANNOYED I get
> at vendors who seem not to value their own products.  "Enter your
> business card to win an iPod/DigitalCamera/Scooter..."  Grr.

I don't understand why that is annoying.  At worst you don't have to
participate.  What the vendor is doing is getting a mailing list that's
better qualified and cheaper than other sources.  If you don't think the
chance to win the product is worth given them your name, you don't have to.
But I don't understand why the offer is annoying unless they are in your
face about it.

I went to Masters last year and gave out EasyProg bare boards as kind of an
opener to talk about QuickProtos, ProProgs, etc.  It worked very well, and
there was also a spike in EasyProg kit sales right after.  Its sortof an
implied deal.  I'll give you something and you at least hear what I've got
to offer.  If you just want to take the board and run, that's fine, I'm
playing the odds.  Most people were genuinely interested and asked for
literature and gave me their cards to please keep them informed.  This year
I might give out RSLinks.

> If
> I'm really interested enough in their products that my name is
> worth having in their database, I ought to be happy with the
> equivalent $value of stuff manufactured by said vendor...

Probably, but look at it from their point of view.  They are only going to
give out one of these things, and they don't care who gets it as long as
they collected a bunch of names.  Why do you object to being the person that
gets the freebie?

If you see me at Masters giving out RSLinks you're always welcome to pay for
one ;-)


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