Free samples from semiconductor Mfgs

[bigone5500]

Anyone ever do this on a regular basis? Not to sound cheap but I was looking online for datasheets for a recent project and came across the Fairchild website. There was a link that said request free samples. I followed through with the rigamarole and 2 days later I had 10 free 7805 regulators at my house.

My next question is why do they do this? Is it for evaluation purposes? Marketing?

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Yes, both. The usual reasons why companies give away free samples. The idea is that if you like their part, you will specify it for your high-quantity production runs, and they will recover their costs when they receive the first order for 56 tubes of 36 regulators each.

 

[Arouse1973]

But do this too often they might get wise and stop it. But keep going until this happens, if it ever does
Adam

 

[shrtrnd]

Often times a big company will just fill sample requests willy-nilly, but as Arouse1973 noted, they might get wise to it if you do it too often.
I've been fortunate enough to work for large companies most of the time. Anytime I request samples from any manufacturer, I get immediate fulfillment when I
address the sample to the company address. No manufacturer wants to pass-up an opportunity to maybe get a large order as a result of a request from a company
that might follow-up with a production quantity buy.
So in my opinion, if you can put a company name on a request instead of a home address; you'll probably see continuous favorable results.

 

[bigone5500]

Please don't think I am going to order samples like crazy. I just thought it was weird that I got them so fast. I don't want to jeopardize a good thing.