[HN Gopher] Swag in the Tech Industry
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Swag in the Tech Industry
Author : jasoneckert
Score : 40 points
Date : 2022-06-26 13:09 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (triosdevelopers.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (triosdevelopers.com)
| cookiengineer wrote:
| I usually don't like conference swag because most of the stuff is
| honestly useless anyways. We all have probably thousands of pens,
| pencils and blocks of paper by now. Not to mention all the
| stickers that get thrown away immediately.
|
| The only time I was jealous of other conference attendees was
| when they ran out of a multi-USB adapter set that was given out
| as branded swag.
|
| Weeks of looking online later I finally found the manufacturer:
| van maehlen and its allroundo sets. [1]
|
| I instantly bought it and it's since been always in my backpack.
| The only other swag I still have and actively use is a
| rubberducky and a teensy ;)
|
| [1] https://www.vonmaehlen.com/allroundo-c
| 0des wrote:
| I'd rather they just not make swag and put that money into their
| employees so they can be happier and stick around longer. The
| best services I've used have the same faces when I need
| something. They build better projects that stay true to the core
| objectives.
| standardUser wrote:
| It's true some swag has endeared me to companies, like my
| awesome, color-changing Weather Underground mug. But the vast,
| vast majority is low-quality garbage that I wish never existed,
| and certainly wish never become my burden to dispose of.
|
| I say, aim for a tiny amount of high-quality swag. Or hell, just
| give people branded gift cards!
| bonestamp2 wrote:
| Agreed. If it looks like swag then I'm not bringing it home. If
| it looks like a shirt someone would pay for then now you've got
| something more people will wear.
|
| My kid had a birthday party at a local trampoline park and they
| gave him a t-shirt. I wasn't expecting much, but it was really
| cool. It had a piece of original art on the front, followed by
| the name of the park underneath. Even with the name of the
| business, it didn't look like an advertisement because the name
| of the business doesn't sound like a business. Everyone around
| here knows exactly what it is, but if we went somewhere else it
| just looks like a fun t-shirt from the kids section at a
| department store. They perfectly nailed the balance between
| serving the business and the customer at the same time.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Comfy T-shirts are always welcome swag.
| standardUser wrote:
| For me, those are PJ shirts at best. But most swag shirts
| aren't that comfy!
| pamelafox wrote:
| FYI- I can't currently wear t-shirts since I've been either
| pregnant or nursing for the last 3 years. T-shirts aren't
| compatible with pregnant/nursing bodies, so I just decline
| them or immediately give them away when I receive them. Zip-
| ups are actually the most compatible, of all the clothing
| swag, and my partner can attest to how frequently I steal his
| swaggy zip-ups. :)
|
| Generally I think that if there is going to be swag given
| away, people should get to opt in to swag or such swag should
| be wholly biodegradable.
| [deleted]
| angrais wrote:
| Why couldn't you accept it, then wear it when you're not
| pregnant or nursing? Could be a nice gift to your future
| self (depending on the t-shirt!)
| closewith wrote:
| Not always welcome - I certainly decline or recycle all the
| branded clothing I get. Better if it was never made.
| 1-more wrote:
| I won a trip to a conference in Las Vegas. I didn't want to
| go but it was made clear that I couldn't turn it down.
| Looking around and just seeing the oceans of garbage being
| made to hand out to people who didn't want or need it on
| top of everything else that horrifies me about Las Vegas
| put me in a really awful mood.
| allenu wrote:
| I used to accept the free stuff given away at conventions and
| conferences, but after realizing most goes in the trash, I just
| say no now. What I like to think to myself when they are
| handing free swag out now is, "Here, you put this in the trash
| for me."
| [deleted]
| standardUser wrote:
| Same, the only stuff I get stuck with now is the stuff my
| company sends me. And it might look bad if I asked them to
| stop sending me their "gifts"!
| dylan604 wrote:
| No, this is actually the worst to me. No, I will not
| actively wear your SWAG like it's special. I actually find
| it sad that so many employees actively wear company SWAG.
| It's even worse when the employees purchase it.
| caramelcustard wrote:
| To be honest, if the swag isn't related to what the company does,
| i'd be more interested in the manufacturer of the swag rather
| than the company that ordered it.
| baron816 wrote:
| I had the opportunity to get a very high quality leather bomber
| jacket for my division at my company. The thing probably cost the
| company over $1k. I decided not to take it since I probably
| would've never worn it and didn't want to waste such a beautiful
| thing.
| boopboopbadoop wrote:
| I bet your manager and/or peers looked at you like you were a
| blasphemer. I don't know how it became normal to want to
| advertise for an employer. Good for you, I would have done the
| same.
| csomar wrote:
| My most favorite is Lufthansa USB drive:
| https://webimg.secondhandapp.at/w-i-mgl/6107ec05459d38277e6b...
|
| It has very nice and slick look, and is actually very useful.
| ovex wrote:
| I am not a brand ambassador or a living billboard and some random
| company is not part of my identity, which is why I dislike
| wearing t-shirts with company logos.
| 3qz wrote:
| Wearing tech swag is for people who use Android phones
| screye wrote:
| I actively HATE _most_ company swag.
|
| Clothing is the most universal & oldest manner in which most
| people express themselves. To tie your company to your identity
| so explicitly is unhealthy, and swag signals that to everyone
| within eyesight. My disdain most applies to every fashion with
| blocky company branding.
|
| There is a way to do swag tastefully. I love MSFT's patent cubes
| and laptop stickers, it stays limited to professional life.
| Useful electronic gifts (tablets, headphones) are great, because
| the branding is an organic part of the product you buy. Even
| clothing can work, if the branding is undetectable. (Themed
| around tech, but not the company).
|
| No, don't give me a 300$ Patagonia jacket or hiking bag with
| massive unremovable branding. I want to go climb my target
| mountain on it, and I do not want 'company name' plastered over
| some of my fondest memories. NO ONE has ever looked at a person
| wearing 'company brand' t-shirt and thought : "Gee, they must be
| smart, they work for big-name company'. This is further
| exacerbated by the fact that big name FANG+ companies are
| effectively in the business of advertisement and attention
| exploitation.
|
| As long as tech people keep wearing terribly fitted company swag
| for everyday activities, I can't sympathize with their complains
| about tech careers perceived negatively in the dating market. We
| brought this upon ourselves.
| c0mptonFP wrote:
| I like my company and I think the logo looks cool. Simple as
| that.
|
| But according to you I have an unhealthy identity problem or
| longing for validation if I wear a t-shirt?
| zeronine wrote:
| correct
| screye wrote:
| I admittedly went a little overboard with the tone of my
| comment. I bet most people do not think as much about company
| swag. Why rain on your parade right ?
|
| I do think tech generally has an unhealthy problem of over-
| identifying with their company and that there is a certain
| insular monoculture resulting from it.
|
| At the end of the day, tech is situated within the greater
| social context around it. Any one who has their ears to the
| ground will know the most common complaints by young people
| in tech and how it ties into society's perception of young
| men in tech.
|
| I deeply respect anyone does not care about how society
| perceives them and can march on un-affected. At the same
| time, I see propagation of incorrect myths and resulting
| insecurities within younger tech workers. If you are an
| average human that's susceptible to all the common markers of
| status around them, then some counter to big-tech koolaid
| might be in order.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| You're right about the creepy over-branding that tech
| companies often indulge in. But it feels like now, four
| years after the Cambridge Analytica scandal implicated
| Facebook, three years after HBO's _Silicon Valley_ ended,
| two years into the Great Resignation, and at the precipice
| of an impending recession, people are not looking at tech
| companies in the same starry-eyed way they did a decade
| ago.
| alisonatwork wrote:
| I hate it too, and not just because it's making my body a free
| billboard that advertizes the company. It's because I don't
| want more clothes, period. I think it's fair to assume that
| anyone who works at a tech company - certainly in the dev
| department - is not going to be experiencing any personal
| shortage of clothing. Unless the point is to provide a
| corporate uniform, why give people more day-to-day stuff that
| they clearly already have enough of, seeing as they survived
| perfectly fine up until getting that job? It's profligate and
| gross.
|
| And that holds true for pretty much every form of company swag,
| to be honest. Is there any product the average upper middle
| class professional is seriously lacking in their personal life
| that would be cost-effective for an employer to provide in a
| swag bag? Realistically, no. It's all just a massive waste.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Why don't you just donate the clothing?
| _se wrote:
| I love my branded stuff. Most of my coworkers do too. It's nice
| and it looks good. I actually get compliments on a specific
| jacket that I have a couple of times per month from others
| saying they wished their company would do it (not developers
| saying this, of course). YMMV I guess? I don't think I would
| continue to work somewhere if I hated them as much as you seem
| to hate every possible employer.
| 3qz wrote:
| > manner in which most people express themselves
|
| tbh I think this is not true in tech. More like laptop stickers
| and luxury Twitter bios. Sometimes I wonder if my coworkers
| know they have a physical form
| willis936 wrote:
| I'd much rather wear a logo of a company I choose to spend a
| third of my day supporting than that of a media or clothing
| franchise. If branding is unhealthy then surely the one chosen
| is healthier than the one prescribed.
| chrisseaton wrote:
| > To tie your company to your identity so explicitly is
| unhealthy
|
| They're just clothes! Most people aren't that much into
| fashion!
| jjcm wrote:
| If anyone is interested in leveling up their swag at the expense
| of time, going directly to tailors in Asia (I use Vietnam) can
| massively increase the quality, while providing the same expense
| and delivering more money to those who make your clothes.
|
| For the same price as a sweater with a logo on it, I got bespoke
| wool pea coats made for everyone on my team (made to fit to their
| measurements), with custom printed lining and an embroidered
| subtle logo on it. Final cost with shipping was about $70pp.
| Tailor made clothes look so much better and it makes people want
| to wear them more. The cost was time - it's about a 2mo
| turnaround and you'll be looking at about 8 hrs of spend on your
| end coordinating things.
| avani wrote:
| I'd love to hear more about your contact and process for this.
| CharlesW wrote:
| That's really interesting. How does one even start? Are there
| any guides? Did you use a broker?
| ramesh31 wrote:
| The key with t-shirts is quality. Spend the extra $5 a piece for
| screen printed American Apparel, and I'll wear that thing every
| day until it has holes. But random cheap shirts go straight to
| the trash.
| xhkkffbf wrote:
| Hanes Beefy T for me. AA stuff is too trendy. I need something
| that can handle some wear and tear.
| tqi wrote:
| Might be nice if people could read comment threads like this one
| and realize that there is no "right" answer to many questions,
| only individual opinions that live on a spectrum of individual
| opinions.
| anonymous_sorry wrote:
| So you're saying our employers should ask us if we want swag
| before ordering it? Great idea!
| tqi wrote:
| I'm saying there isn't a single answer to the question that
| everyone will be happy about.
| rjsw wrote:
| Wearing a swag T-shirt right now.
| [deleted]
| mattbee wrote:
| My swag lesson: everyone likes bottle openers! But international
| travellers can't take pointy/blady things back in hand luggage. I
| had a lot of those things left over after that show.
| carabiner wrote:
| Do they really? I'd think everyone who drinks already has a
| couple. I've got two at all times (one that's part of a
| multitool, and a separate titanium one from a Kickstarter).
| jaredsohn wrote:
| >everyone likes bottle openers
|
| I have no use for one. Haven't opened a bottle in a few years
| now. And maybe have done so at most 30 times throughout my
| life. (Don't drink soda and rarely drink alcohol.)
| xhkkffbf wrote:
| Most of the alcohol these days has pull tabs or twist tops.
| There was a time when the companies tried to pretend that old
| bottles with old caps were somehow better but I think that
| urge has faded.
| tom_ wrote:
| Untrue for bottled beer in the uk!
| fleddr wrote:
| Not true in the Netherlands, which is why the average dutch
| person can open a bottle of beer with various objects, such
| as a lighter, keys, anything small and stiff, tabletop or
| teeth.
| macksd wrote:
| I certainly don't, and I would like them even less if multiple
| companies were sticking them in my hand at a trade show. I
| think generally the tech industry could do with less focus on
| alcohol. I don't drink, but I used to be okay with going to
| socialize with coworkers at a happy hour. But it doesn't take
| very long to tire of leadership talking about inclusivity, and
| then only planning alcohol-focused team events, when they all
| know I'm not into it. But more to the point: a lot of harmful
| stuff happens to your team when everyone is drunk. It's hard to
| work with someone who threw up in your Uber the night before. I
| don't know why some companies keep rolling those dice.
| happyopossum wrote:
| > a lot of harmful stuff happens to your team when everyone
| is drunk
|
| As you've proven, having alcohol based events doesn't require
| anyone (and def not everyone) to get drunk.
|
| > It's hard to work with someone who threw up in your Uber
| the night before
|
| You clearly have some issues with people who drink to excess.
| That's your prerogative, so maybe you should work with
| different people.
| macksd wrote:
| And how many different companies should I work at before I
| conclude that the industry in general could use a change
| and that it's not me that needs to make changes?
| alisonatwork wrote:
| In some countries non-alcoholic drinks also require a bottle
| opener (or some creative usage of a nearby straight edge) to
| open.
| pamelafox wrote:
| Agreed! I stopped drinking at work event years ago in order
| to minimize the risk of bad stuff happening, and then stopped
| drinking entirely due to pregnancy/nursing, so I've no idea
| what I'd do with a bottle opener.
|
| One of the nice things about remote-friendly companies these
| days is less pressure to be around alcohol-infused events.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| Yeah, this reminds me of one of the swag items at KubeCon a few
| years ago. Someone was giving out DevOps Magic 8 Balls. My
| first thought: "oh that's fun!" My second thought: "wait this
| is annoying to get back home on the flight."
| keithnz wrote:
| or, you get to a certain level of popularity and you can sell
| your swag, like https://thegithubshop.com/
|
| Going to Microsoft events in the late 90s, early 2000s I remember
| getting all kinds of good swag, webcams, toolkits, t-shrts, usb
| drives, headsets.
| MangezBien wrote:
| I generally hate swag, but my company gave me a coffee mug that
| is the best mug I've ever used.
| [deleted]
| austinl wrote:
| A few of the Goodwills in San Francisco are full of company swag
| and it's kind of bizarre. Like hey, I could buy this Uber-branded
| Patagonia jacket having never worked there. Also weird in a way
| to subject less fortunate folks to wear company branded clothing,
| but I guess they don't have to buy it.
|
| On the other hand, it's also common (and somewhat strange) to see
| homeless in SF wearing company branded clothing that was donated.
| rsynnott wrote:
| As an extremely lazy person, I quite like the t-shirts, as they
| reduce the amount of clothes shopping I have to do. Also
| sometimes people get quite creative with them; I prefer the ones
| that aren't really identifiable as swag by the general public
| (which I suppose makes them... not conventional swag, really?)
| post_break wrote:
| I have a very nice yeti cup company from a certain company. Use
| it daily. The company had a super serious data breach so we
| didn't use them and it makes me think about it from time to time.
| onion2k wrote:
| As a counterpoint, I flat out refuse to buy anything from any
| company that gives out plastic destined-to-spend-1000-years-in-
| landfill crap. Spend your marketing budget funding open source
| project maintainers on the other hand, and I will _listen_.
| iLoveOncall wrote:
| So you aren't buying anything from any company ever? I'm pretty
| sure there isn't a single company that has been alive for a
| year and hasn't distributed some branded pens or other crappy
| items like that.
| bloodyplonker22 wrote:
| The AWS re:Invent conference had great and easy-to-get swag when
| it first started. Almost every booth was giving away some type of
| swag with value comparable to a T-shirt. All you had to do was
| stop by the booth, and they'd gift you something, no questions
| asked. 10 years later, you go to any company's booth and they're
| making you jump through hoops, fill in forms, do quizzes and
| exercises and contests to get a T-shirt. Many booths are not
| offering anything. The only freebies are stickers and trinkets
| worth a few pennies. Even Amazon's own AWS hoodie, which they
| give out at every re:Invent conference, has decreased in quality,
| greatly. I remember one particular year, the hoodie was so thin
| and cheap that I gave it to a homeless person on the streets of
| Vegas. Over the course of many years at re:Invent, companies
| realized that the ROI on swag was extremely low, perhaps even
| negative.
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