Lots of companies give away free stuff as a way of promoting their products or their business.
The most popular freebies given away are free samples, free trials and free rewards.
Free samples allow you to try a product for free. The companies know that most people will always choose the same brand because they have loyalty towards it and in order to encourage you to buy their products companies give you a free taster in the hope that you try it and prefer it to your normal brand and therfore buy this new brand in future.
Free trials involve you receiving the first few products for free and then if you want any more you have to pay the full price for them. This is very common with subscription products such as magazines where you sign up for the magazine and receive the first months magazine free but then have to pay the full price for the rest of the magazines you receive. Free trials are useful in that they allow you to try a product for free before you buy it.
Free rewards involve completing a small task and being rewarded with a free product, voucher or possibly cash. Common types of such free rewards involve competing surveys, using a cashback rewards website and applying for insurance quotes.
Care should always be taken when giving out personal data such as your name, address, phone number and bank details out as although most companies are genuine there will always be a few rogues who will try to take advantage of you. In order to avoid these rogue you should not provide any more information than you think is necessary, for example, if you are to receive a free sample - the sender will need your postal address but they should not be asking for your credit card details unless it is a free trial.
