I recently bought a new smartphone at a local name-brand store. After completing the deal, they brought out a large gift bag to carry my small new phone. I peeked into the bag and saw two additional gadgets were gifted as thanks for giving the store my business. The gifts were a Bluetooth speaker and one of those robotic, round vacuum cleaners that can vacuum autonomously.
I didn’t really need either of the gadgets, but it’s against human nature to refuse a free gimmick. I gave the speaker to a friend, but I’d only seen the vacuum cleaners in videos and was curious how well they worked. After charging it up, I turned it on and set it loose in my living room. The brushes rotated, the vacuum worked, the lights blinked and glowed, and the vacuum avoided damaging my furniture during its assigned cleaning chore. But after a while, I noticed that the floor wasn’t getting any cleaner.
Relying on My Analog Floor Cleaning Kit
The hot trend for electronics manufacturers is giving gifts of cheap gadgets that are knockoffs of the latest fad in branded gadgets. The last two computers and two phones I bought all came with gift bags holding these less-than-useful items.
They think that we’ll all be so impressed by these gifts that we’ll remember to shop at their stores again. I don’t have the heart to inform them that I shop at the store that’s the closest and has the product I want. I’m not impressed to get a gift bag of junk I know will soon be gathering dust or be thrown away. I think most shoppers simply expect to get this stuff because one manufacturer started the trend to get rid of useless merchandise. I’ll sadly have to continue relying on my analog floor cleaning kit consisting of a broom and dustpan, although I’ll miss the cool flashing lights.