A BIFL rant about corporate purchases....

Submitted by plazman30 t3_11bsapa in BuyItForLife

My company claims to be very environmentally conscious. We've modified computer policies so that computers get force shut-down every night. With every business trip we buy carbon credits. We're installing solar panels on each new location we build. We try to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Yesterday, I come home and there is a package on the front of my house in a box that immediately makes me recognize that it's from my company. I open it up and it's a company branded backpack that has tag on it that says it was made from "ocean bound plastic." It's one of those things you get made some corporate logo website. And I got one, because I won some award in the summer for doing a good job. Throughout the calendar year there are probably 100 people across the US that have won similar awards. So, they sent out 100 backpacks.

As I check out this backpack, I see that it's undersized and in really bad condition. The zippers are REALLY cheap and the stitching is atrocious. There are frayed threads everywhere. If I actually use this backpack, it's going to end up in a landfill in probably a year.

I track down the company that makes this backpack and on their website, the backpacks cost $20.00 before the personalization, which I assume adds another $5.00 to the price.

For the size backpack it was, they could have spent another $10.00 and gotten a Jansport backpack and that would NOT end up in landfill in a year, but instead would still be useful 20-30 later. And that would increased the total out of pocket cost to them by only $1000 dollars, but saved them a ton of environmental impact in the long term.

There are definitely some BIFL products that are way overpriced. But Jansport backpacks are not one of them. Think a little before you buy and get a quality product.

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couldbeyouornot t1_j9zmvy5 wrote

hit up corporate and tell them all of this. 🤷‍♀️ suggest an alternative. i'm with you and hate this sort of shit.

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Dying4aCure t1_ja1yelv wrote

I agree, maybe it’s the best they could do and would appreciate you, with such a great grasp of their mission. It’s worth a try?

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myredditaccount80 t1_j9zr8fc wrote

Corporate green washing isn't about being green. It's about reducing cost and increasing profit in the most cynical way possible. I notice at my own work places after 75 years of the same furniture that would be beautiful with some refinishing they instead throw it away and buy a bunch of mdf furniture they have to replace every 3 years.

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SigSeikoSpyderco t1_ja0uft5 wrote

Most green initiatives are bullshit. Your business exists to make money, not make the earth greener. Don't drink the kool-aid.

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NoAdministration8006 t1_ja125dz wrote

I just had my high school Jansport repaired for free last month, so I totally agree with you.

I tend to hate branded swag anyway because they're so wasteful. Most people don't want something with their boss' company name all over it. In lieu of a Christmas gift during Covid, my employer gave everyone branded blankets and jackets. There is no way to remove the logo, and I have since moved out of state to a place that's unfamiliar with this company, so if I donate it, no one will know who the hell they are, and it'll probably end up in a landfill.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja1hvc3 wrote

I'm not a fan of branded merchandise. But if it was actually quality branded merchandise, I would be OK with it.

I think Jansport is one of those "bang for your buck" brands. I bought my son a red Jansport backpack when he was in 7th grade. He's senior in college now and still uses it. He bought himself one for his D&D stuff when he was a freshman. Still using it.

I buy used Jansport backpack off Craigslist all the time to have as backups when needed.

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Dappersworth t1_ja1tkfy wrote

Carvana gave me a free pair of allbirds for one year of employment. Came with an easily removeable carvana logo sticker on the back of the shoe, which I promplty removed right out of the box. They're very comfortable actually, I would highly recommend them.

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Whale-n-Flowers t1_ja1tnhu wrote

I've started just refusing any time my current company hands out random stuff. Usually admin doesn't inquire more if I just say I don't like fleece or have no use for it.

I have gotten the occasional "are you sure? it's free" response, but they never really press it past that.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja317t9 wrote

It's hard to refuse stuff that's shipped to your door, sadly. I'm tempted to just give this thing to a thrift store. For now, it's on a hook in my closet. I'd like to say that it's there as a backup. But all my other backpacks are Jansport, so I don't need a backup.

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contrabandtryover t1_ja103yb wrote

Reminds me of a Christmas present a corporation I worked at a few years ago gave everyone. The shittiest, cheapest water proof speaker ever. They gave so many employees something that I promise you, they threw away in a few months, if not immediately.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja1nxum wrote

I would ratrher get an Amazon gift card for $10 or $20 than some piece of shit item that's going to get thrown away.

Years ago I bought my whole team Fisher Space Pens for Christmas. It's been almost a decade and they all still use them.

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AWildBee t1_ja2dal4 wrote

My shitty company once mailed us a Hershey's chocolate bar. Couldn't help but think about all that waste in packaging, fuel, and carbon emissions. Would've been happier with a $5 eGift card.

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Occhrome t1_ja0b1q4 wrote

dam you making my company look good lol.

they usually hand out OGIO backpacks.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja0hr5z wrote

Ogio backpacks are nice.

These Leed's brand backpacks are pretty crappy. It's all about the corporate branding. If they give you anything for free, it needs to have the company logo on it, so you can be a walking billboard as you walk around.

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Yet_Another_Limey t1_ja2f8op wrote

If there’s not the logo it’s taxable.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja2yoou wrote

Leave it to the IRS to f*ck things up.

A LOT of companies got rid of benefits such as tuition reimbursement and other small perks because now it's taxable and they don't want to track it.

My wife was the treasurer of my kids' PTA. They used to give the teachers a $100 staples gift card in August to let them buy supplies for themselves. They had to stop doing that because that was taxable income to the IRS.

I have a few other examples of the IRS getting rid of corporate perks by making them taxable.

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symplton t1_ja11wzl wrote

I’ve dumpster dove to save a well used but perfectly functional OGIO with no regrets whatsoever. It’s used daily.

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[deleted] t1_ja13od6 wrote

[deleted]

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plazman30 OP t1_ja33m55 wrote

My work gave me a really cheap water bottle that didn't even make it a year,

There's nothing more annoying than getting a water bottle, coffee cup or a travel coffee thermos. They're all going to be cheap crap and probably own plenty of them already. I recently took a dozen water bottles to Goodwill. My son got one for joining the scouts. He got one for joining the National Honor Society. He got one as a gift for getting into high school. The other son got one for marching band, for joining the school e-sports team, for joining the concert choir. That's 6 water bottles just for my 2 kids. Then I had a half dozen work had given me over the years from various events.

All of these are cheap plastic water bottle with no insulation that sweat all day. Rounded them all up, took them to Goodwill, and bought 4 nice insulated water bottles that are well built. Told everyone not to accept water bottle any more.

I also have an entire shelf of branded ceramic coffee mugs. Coffee mugs are really BIFL items. Unless you drop it, it's going to last forever. But do I really need that many coffee mugs? There are 1 or 2 I might keep, like one with the 90s rainbow Apple logo. But what do I do with a coffee mug from a company I worked for 20 years ago that doesn't even exist?

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blakflag t1_ja2t4zs wrote

People need to start calling corporations out on this garbage swag. All of it is just born for the landfill. Millions of tons of useless crap. Companies should start advertising on the fact that they DON'T waste resources on plastic garbage. Especially this completely bogus "we saved this plastic" routine. 99.9% of these greenwashed manufacturing schemes are lies or half-truths and don't actually do anything to help the environment.

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donstermu t1_ja24zjw wrote

Bought a LL bean backpack before I went back to school at 46 to become a nurse. This was before the rescinded their lifetime guarantee. After nursing school I called to see if they could fix the torn lining between compartments or replace, and they refused. Said they don’t have that guarantee now so will not honor the one they had when i purchased it.

I say this because I wish I would have gotten a Jansport backpack and hope they never rescind their BIFL guarantee.

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edcculus t1_ja38wxf wrote

My company sent me a really nice yeti coffee mug with our logo on it.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja3l8s9 wrote

Yeti mugs are nice.

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edcculus t1_ja3nn0b wrote

I was honestly quite surprised. I signed up for some random online training/webinar series during the pandemic they were offering. Everyone who joined was surprised with a gift box that included a nice solid canvas tote, that yeti coffee mug and a bar of some decent dark chocolate. I’m sure there were several hundred people who participated, so it certainly wasn’t cheap for them.

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hlmarsh1792 t1_ja3j0v3 wrote

Also one could argue the company doesn’t even need to purchased a backpack or item.. maybe a bonus check or gift card to a local restaurant would be even better and lower waste than an actual item. My company loves to give gifts for awards but it ends up being some stupid branded clock or desk trinket or a backpack/water bottle of which I have enough already. I mean stop by any goodwill and you’ll find lots of used items like that.

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plazman30 OP t1_ja3kxxd wrote

If they give you a gift card, they have to tax you on it now. Very frustrating and why a lot of companies don't do it any more. They don't want to have to track it.

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hlmarsh1792 t1_ja60krq wrote

Oh man, I didn’t realize! What a bummer!

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plazman30 OP t1_ja67lgf wrote

Yeah, the IRS now requires you to pay taxes on any corporate perks. Years ago, I worked for McNeil Pharmaceuticals, which was a division of J&J. They used to run a company store that sold J&J products at cost. You could buy a giant bottle of Tylenol for $1.99. Diapers and baby power were dirt cheap. Supposedly, when the law went into effect, they were supposed to track employee purchases and if the total discount exceeded $100 throughout the year; they were supposed to include it in your W2. The company didn't want to go through the effort. The company store broke even. With these new rules and the additional paperwork, it would have operated at a loss. So, they shut the store down.

I had a friend who worked for American University in DC. Low salary, but he was getting his Masters Degree for free. Law went into effect, and the school yanked the free tuition because of the new IRS regulations.

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