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Newsletter 2004 issue 1 |
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The Cost of Free Samples
During
spring cleaning you find the darndest things. In my linen
closet I found an unopened trial-size antiperspirant from
when I moved into the college dorm four years ago and was
given a box full of product samples. I found shampoo and detergent
samples from the Sunday paper. Every so often I get rid of
my sample stash by giving away what I can (homeless shelters
take personal care product samples), and throwing the rest
in the trash.
Home isn’t the only place free samples
accumulate. You probably have a few unwanted product samples
laying around your facility. Vendors and suppliers are often
eager to leave product samples with you, hoping you will change
products.
But what happens to samples that either you can’t use
or don’t work in your process? Some of them could require
disposal as a hazardous waste. When you count the time and
money needed to properly dispose of free samples they can
become expensive.
Sample waste
Merit Enterprises, a metal plating company in Isle, had accumulated
many sample plating bath chemicals from suppliers.
“The samples added up over time. When
I started to notice them sitting here I wanted to find someone
who could use them. But that was hard to do because of their
shelf life,” said Al Lindholm, plant manager at Merit.
“So we were stuck with hazardous waste that we needed
to manifest and pay to properly dispose of.”
At one time Merit had 12 samples on hand
to dispose of. The samples weren’t always trial-size
either. Some samples were in 50-gallon drums.
Sample policy
To eliminate its need to manage and dispose of product samples,
the company developed a policy about accepting samples.
“We will only take a sample on the
condition that the vendor takes it all out of our facility,
unless it can be handled through our wastewater system,”
said Lindholm.
Since instituting this policy, Lindholm
doesn’t feel that Merit has missed out on any great new
products. “If our vendors have a product that we can
use and they believe it is better than what we’ve already
got, then they are more than willing to agree to our take-back
policy.”
Merit has seen the number of samples entering
its facility drop since requiring vendor take-back. The company
saves money on the cost of analyzing unusable sample chemicals
and sending the samples out as hazardous waste.
The policy frees up staff time. “It
was a hassle to have someone go through gathering and sending
out the samples, their time was needed elsewhere,” recalled
Lindholm.
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