From the ‘people will buy anything so long as you don’t tell them what it is and it comes in a box’ department, Wired reports of a new service from Amazon, where customers can buy a Goodie Box of 1 to 5 “goodies” — freebies, basically — from software publishers randomly dropped into a box. Technically it’s free, since the box costs $10 but includes a $10 mail-in rebate. (The buyer pays for shipping, which starts at $4, and one assumes most folk forget to mail the rebate coupon.)
Recent boxes included a Microsoft Money trial CD, a CD wallet from Roxio, a Photoshop Album Starter Edition CD from Adobe and some Post-It cubes from Apple.
Needless to say, since the service started in May it’s been so popular they’ve sold out and are waiting to get more stuff. I can well believe something like this is popular. Any time I’ve mentioned I’ve got cupboards full of this kind of stuff, folk send me emails asking me to send it their way. Short answer: no. Bids start at $10.