Never Ceases

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how well offering samples in the grocery store works.

It actually works.

I would love to see the metrics on this, but I'm betting that it works more than a coupon....well, probably depends on the coupon.

And it really matters what food you're selling in the sample.

For example:  prepackaged, processed food (like frozen pizzas and pre-popped, stale popcorn- yum).  These always seem to do very well when there is a sample being offered in the store.

Perhaps it's just what people are used to eating.

Gemuetlich, as the Germans say.  "Home cooking"?

Perhaps it's that these items are priced between $5-$10 each.

Whatever the reason, I always see a huge line next to prefab food samples at the grocery store...followed by a great deal of the products in baskets at the checkout line.

But exotic foods, like salmon and steaks...these don't seem to convert well.  I'm sure that there are more people lined up to have the salmon than the frozen pizza because the salmon is always out of samples.

So, what's going on?

While it could be the price, I think it might be more effort involved in preparation.  I know that I would rather have a tupperware full of leftovers during the week rather than dealing with cooking fish to the right temperature, boning it, skinning it (not in that order), and then the lingering odor for multiple days.

Perhaps geneticists need to breed us quicker cooking fish...or fish that don't leave a linger smell...or something better than Oust (which no long exists) to remove the cooked fish smell from the house.

Or perhaps I just need to be paid more so that I can afford the fish, along with the time and effort to cook it.