We have spoken here in the past of what I call Costco Dim-Sum — those wonderful free samples on which you can feast if you go to a Costco at the proper hour. This article discusses why they do that but seems to miss what is to me the obvious reason. Costco doesn't sell small packages of its food. If you're thinking you might like the frozen, pre-cooked Chicken Teriyaki, there's no $3.95 package you can take home and try. You have to commit to the $14.00 box or nothing. What if you get it home, take one bite and it stinks?
By giving you one bite in the store, Costco is recognizing your aversion to gambling. I don't think they'd have those ladies in the hairnets at the end of the aisle doling out previews if you could try it for three or four bucks but you can't so they need them there. Of course, the article's right that it also makes going to Costco more fun. And it gets you to the rear of the place.
Somewhere in this house of mine, I have a book that was given to me years ago that was written for casino operators about how to maximize profits. A lot of it was about how to lure people to the back of the casino with free stuff…like those places they used to have downtown in Vegas where you could win a free personalized keychain in the front of the casino. Ah, but you had to go to the back of the casino — walking past all those slot machines — to get it. And then when you got there, you had to wait ten minutes (next to all those slot machines) before it would be ready.
If you even slipped one dollar into a machine while waiting and didn't win, they made a profit. I would have the will power to not play the dollar. But I don't think I could walk to the rear of a Costco, sample the Jimmy Dean pure pork sausage, and then walk out without spending at least a hundred dollars on something.
Thanks to Ray Barrington for sending me the link. And speaking of links, I wonder if I have any Jimmy Dean pure pork sausage in the fridge…