6 ms·

Don't mean to be rude but... You _bought_ company swag, as an employee? Don't they usually give out like at least a free t-shirt and a mug for everyone?

grogenaut 3y ago
Sweet summer child working at a West Coast tech startup. Why give away swag when you can have your employees buy it? This is how it usually is outside the bubble.
- milkytron 3y ago
  Idk. I worked for a massive company that is as east coast as they come. We'd still get free swag all the time. Usually for participating in events or coming to talks and stuff. Same thing with the startup I worked for, and the midsize/small company I work for now. From my experience, this is not how it is outside the bubble of SV.
- prmoustache 3y ago
  Company swag is usually the kind of gear you are wearing while doing stuff that could make you dirty. Lawn mowing, doing house shores, home renovation, fixing a bike or car.... Not something you would willingly spend money on and this is definitely stuff companies give away for free. It seems to be changing a bit now with companies having an environmental committee for all stuff that is made in plastic.
- runlaszlorun 3y ago
  I worked the occasional temp night shift at an Amazon warehouse shoving boxes around while working on a startup and they gave out a fair amount of swag. One could call them a tech company and therefore in the bubble but this is about as low on the totem pole as you can get. To their credit, they at least had to foresight to realize that free swag is free advertising. Enlightened self-interest if you will.
- jmprspret 3y ago
  I don't work for a startup I work for a broke company constantly shedding employees and I got a free shirt and a mug..
  - denkmoon 3y ago
    Well if they didn't give away free shirts and mugs they might be a little less broke after all.
- grogenaut 3y ago
  For context I work at a startup that was bought by a megacorp but had a west coast swag mentality for years... the swag I got: - T-shirt, nice water bottle, backpack pins for interviewing (we got them on the swap over) - Hoodie and very nice ~$120 backpack on start - Hoodie at 2 years - Hoodie at holidays every year - T shirt & hoodie at every con I worked - Backpack at 2 years - Team hoodie, 3 t-shirts, or nort face soft shell every year with team logo on it - Yeti coffee cups for each team I founded - Custom yeezies I have around 20 hoodies now, 3 backpacks, 30 shirts. This doesn't include the electronics we got every year. All of this stuff is american apparel (pre-issues) or nicer. From megacorp I got a bad t-shirt and a paper thin targus backpack and the option to buy swag. When I rolled over to acquired startup we got a swag budget to bribe megacorp employees into meetings with us. It worked very well. We'd get Sr VPs in to a room with just a t-shirt for their kids.
- Jcampuzano2 3y ago
  I don't work on the west coast though I am originally from there. I've worked at 4 companies in Texas in the last 10 or so years ranging from 10s of thousands of employees with international presence down to only 35 employees when I started. Every single one had free coffee and snacks as well as free swag at least once or twice a year. Meaning shirts, sweatshirts, hats etc. Mostly lowish quality if I'm being fair, but my last company would give everybody really high quality stuff like 3-4 times a year.
justinclift 3y ago
They probably used to. Then the accountants got involved and removed that expense. Along with everything else they could think of too. Free coffee for employees? Not from about 2 decades ago... ;)
- dna_polymerase 3y ago
  > Free coffee for employees? Not from about 2 decades ago... ;) Is this a joke that went over my head, or are they seriously making their employees pay for coffee?
  - alwayseasy 3y ago
    It's the case in most companies unfortunately.
  - justinclift 3y ago
    At least here in Australia, (about 2 decades ago) they seriously stopped having free coffee - or any other drink except tap water - for their employees. Yep, it's as brain damaged an idea as it seems, and yep it's also an accurate depiction of how little they think of their employee productivity.
  - jonfw 3y ago
    My office in US has free sodas, snacks, and coffee. As well as free lunch weekly. Not as bad as some people’s experiences here I guess
    - tanjtanjtanj 3y ago
      I worked at a US IBM site for a couple weeks a few years back and they had an engineer assigned to my group who would walk with us to the kitchenette and pay for our coffee from the machine each time. I hope he was reimbursed!
  - thedougd 3y ago
    Yes, most of IBM charged you for coffee. And this is when they were still doing okay. The real gem was around 2010 when my location stopped picking up trash from offices and cubes. You had to dump your bin into the big one at the end of the building.
kmarc 3y ago
A big Swiss re-insurance company, whose C-level somebody loves to buy and exhibit expensive art pieces in their office buildings, gave a $50 Christmas gift to their employees, which was a coffee table book of PICTURES of those art pieces. Just to make it clear, the $50 was the discounted price for the book that the employees had to PAY. The gift was the discount. On the book. Of photos of $M++ art.
Jolter 3y ago
Worked for 15 years at a large telecom. The only company swag I have, I won in a lottery, or stole.
rescbr 3y ago
Nah, you had to pay for crap coffee as well. The cafeteria vendor drama was also a fun way to feel the bean counting penny-pinching machine at work. The company store was there mostly to sell swag to give them to customers. I’ve expensed plenty of branded stuff, and well, that eye-bee-m t-shirt is classy. Every end of quarter or so they also had a sale that sold stuff below market rates, so it was a cheap way to get nice suitcases and backpacks.
elzbardico 3y ago
Along with all other stupid stuff you can blame MBAs for that. Fucking bean counters.
pmontra 3y ago
I know that it seems surprising but at least he (she?) paid to wear a shirt advertising the company he was working for. Many people pay for the privilege to advertise companies that won't give them a penny, only taking more money from them.

grogenaut 3y ago

Sweet summer child working at a West Coast tech startup. Why give away swag when you can have your employees buy it? This is how it usually is outside the bubble.

milkytron 3y ago
Idk. I worked for a massive company that is as east coast as they come. We'd still get free swag all the time. Usually for participating in events or coming to talks and stuff. Same thing with the startup I worked for, and the midsize/small company I work for now. From my experience, this is not how it is outside the bubble of SV.
prmoustache 3y ago
Company swag is usually the kind of gear you are wearing while doing stuff that could make you dirty. Lawn mowing, doing house shores, home renovation, fixing a bike or car.... Not something you would willingly spend money on and this is definitely stuff companies give away for free. It seems to be changing a bit now with companies having an environmental committee for all stuff that is made in plastic.
runlaszlorun 3y ago
I worked the occasional temp night shift at an Amazon warehouse shoving boxes around while working on a startup and they gave out a fair amount of swag. One could call them a tech company and therefore in the bubble but this is about as low on the totem pole as you can get. To their credit, they at least had to foresight to realize that free swag is free advertising. Enlightened self-interest if you will.
jmprspret 3y ago
I don't work for a startup I work for a broke company constantly shedding employees and I got a free shirt and a mug..
- denkmoon 3y ago
  Well if they didn't give away free shirts and mugs they might be a little less broke after all.
grogenaut 3y ago
For context I work at a startup that was bought by a megacorp but had a west coast swag mentality for years... the swag I got: - T-shirt, nice water bottle, backpack pins for interviewing (we got them on the swap over) - Hoodie and very nice ~$120 backpack on start - Hoodie at 2 years - Hoodie at holidays every year - T shirt & hoodie at every con I worked - Backpack at 2 years - Team hoodie, 3 t-shirts, or nort face soft shell every year with team logo on it - Yeti coffee cups for each team I founded - Custom yeezies I have around 20 hoodies now, 3 backpacks, 30 shirts. This doesn't include the electronics we got every year. All of this stuff is american apparel (pre-issues) or nicer. From megacorp I got a bad t-shirt and a paper thin targus backpack and the option to buy swag. When I rolled over to acquired startup we got a swag budget to bribe megacorp employees into meetings with us. It worked very well. We'd get Sr VPs in to a room with just a t-shirt for their kids.
Jcampuzano2 3y ago
I don't work on the west coast though I am originally from there. I've worked at 4 companies in Texas in the last 10 or so years ranging from 10s of thousands of employees with international presence down to only 35 employees when I started. Every single one had free coffee and snacks as well as free swag at least once or twice a year. Meaning shirts, sweatshirts, hats etc. Mostly lowish quality if I'm being fair, but my last company would give everybody really high quality stuff like 3-4 times a year.

justinclift 3y ago

They probably used to. Then the accountants got involved and removed that expense. Along with everything else they could think of too. Free coffee for employees? Not from about 2 decades ago... ;)

dna_polymerase 3y ago
> Free coffee for employees? Not from about 2 decades ago... ;) Is this a joke that went over my head, or are they seriously making their employees pay for coffee?
- alwayseasy 3y ago
  It's the case in most companies unfortunately.
- justinclift 3y ago
  At least here in Australia, (about 2 decades ago) they seriously stopped having free coffee - or any other drink except tap water - for their employees. Yep, it's as brain damaged an idea as it seems, and yep it's also an accurate depiction of how little they think of their employee productivity.
- jonfw 3y ago
  My office in US has free sodas, snacks, and coffee. As well as free lunch weekly. Not as bad as some people’s experiences here I guess
  - tanjtanjtanj 3y ago
    I worked at a US IBM site for a couple weeks a few years back and they had an engineer assigned to my group who would walk with us to the kitchenette and pay for our coffee from the machine each time. I hope he was reimbursed!
- thedougd 3y ago
  Yes, most of IBM charged you for coffee. And this is when they were still doing okay. The real gem was around 2010 when my location stopped picking up trash from offices and cubes. You had to dump your bin into the big one at the end of the building.

kmarc 3y ago

A big Swiss re-insurance company, whose C-level somebody loves to buy and exhibit expensive art pieces in their office buildings, gave a $50 Christmas gift to their employees, which was a coffee table book of PICTURES of those art pieces. Just to make it clear, the $50 was the discounted price for the book that the employees had to PAY. The gift was the discount. On the book. Of photos of $M++ art.

Jolter 3y ago

Worked for 15 years at a large telecom. The only company swag I have, I won in a lottery, or stole.

rescbr 3y ago

Nah, you had to pay for crap coffee as well. The cafeteria vendor drama was also a fun way to feel the bean counting penny-pinching machine at work. The company store was there mostly to sell swag to give them to customers. I’ve expensed plenty of branded stuff, and well, that eye-bee-m t-shirt is classy. Every end of quarter or so they also had a sale that sold stuff below market rates, so it was a cheap way to get nice suitcases and backpacks.

elzbardico 3y ago

Along with all other stupid stuff you can blame MBAs for that. Fucking bean counters.

pmontra 3y ago

I know that it seems surprising but at least he (she?) paid to wear a shirt advertising the company he was working for. Many people pay for the privilege to advertise companies that won't give them a penny, only taking more money from them.