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Re: [GWL]: New Plants/Products For Testing

Title: RE: [GWL]: New Plants/Products For Testing
I've been lurking here since joining this list several weeks ago, and been following this tread since it started.
 
The problem of "freebies" is not confined to garden writers. Gardening is just one of the fields I write about, and virtually every one of them has this same on-going discussion. You think gardening is bad? Try working in the outdoor fields.
 
I've also walked the other side of the street, doing marketing and PR for companies. So I see both sides of the issue.
 
When a company sends out a product to a writer, it does so for one (or both) or two reasons. First, that there is a reasonable expectation of ink, and second, that a report will be filed from somebody knowledgeable, enabling the company to improve the product. If one or both of those conditions don't exist, the company can drop the dollars out a window with less effort.
 
No reliable company believes that somebody will write about the product _just_ because it was sent them. Just as no ethical writer would promote the product just because he/she got it for free. But the fact is, hobbiest media are in a partnership with those who supply that hobby. It just couldn't be any other way.
 
A gardener will buy only one or maybe two of the tools if that is how many they can afford.  My obligation is to list good  tools that are hopefully at a variety of price points.
 
This, Nan, is fundemental to the whole discussion. However, there is a middle ground. With hard-goods products, such as tools, there is no reason you cannot borrow them. When I did my round up of long-handled gardening tools for Mother Earth News, for instance, I specifically asked the manufacturers if they wanted the samples returned. Some did, some didn't. The point is, I'm sure I had a much greater response rate because I demonstrated in my contact letter that I wasn't merely looking for freebies.
 
One point not raised in this discussion: Those of us who do this for a living have needs and requirements that the part-timer or hobbiest doesn't. If I was doing, say, a garden column in the local paper just because it was fun, or editing a newsletter to fulfill master gardner volunteer hours, then buying plants, tools, etc. becomes irrelevant. For a fulltime freelancer to buy them, however, especially, as Nan points out, in the quantities required, is just not feasible. Not when the costs of doing business would then be greater than the income generated.
 
Just my .02.
 
 
 
Brook
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