The global coronavirus pandemic prompted a wide array of companies, ranging from multinational corporations to small businesses, to offer free products, services, and discounts to support individuals and organizations facing disruption. These offers, often categorized as "freebies," covered essential categories such as food delivery, technology and software solutions, and protective equipment. The availability of these resources was primarily documented during the height of the pandemic in 2020, with many offers structured as temporary relief efforts designed to assist with remote work, education, and daily living needs.
Information regarding these offers was aggregated by various deal-finding and news platforms, which compiled lists of active promotions. For example, ClarityWave curated a list of 318 free resources and deals, including products, services, and subscriptions that were either free or heavily discounted by 50% or more. Similarly, FreebieSupply and PantherNow published specific lists of free items and services intended to help consumers navigate the shutdown. These sources indicate that the scope of freebies was extensive, covering business software, food delivery, and even personal protective gear offered by industries such as tobacco and vaping.
Food and Delivery Freebies
Several restaurant chains and food delivery services offered fee waivers and free delivery options to support customers during quarantine and social distancing measures. These offers were generally time-bound and required ordering through specific platforms or websites.
UberEats, a prominent food delivery service, waived delivery fees for independent restaurants and implemented contactless delivery options to limit exposure between individuals. Major restaurant chains also implemented similar programs:
- Chipotle: Offered free delivery on orders over $10 until March 31, with orders placed via their website or app.
- Pollo Tropical: Provided free delivery for all orders made through its app or website until April 3, with no minimum purchase requirement.
- Red Lobster: Offered free delivery for website orders until March 29, subject to a $30 minimum order and exclusion from use with other offers.
- KFC: Provided free delivery until April 26, accessible through their website or third-party apps like Grubhub and Seamless.
- Moe’s Southwest Grill: Offered free delivery on orders over $10 via their app and website until April.
Business and Technology Solutions
A significant portion of the pandemic freebies focused on enabling remote work, distance learning, and organizational efficiency. Software companies across various sectors provided free access to their platforms, often for limited durations ranging from three months to over a year.
Remote Work and Collaboration Tools
Companies heavily impacted by the shift to remote operations found support in free software licenses.
- Lifesize: Offered free unlimited licenses for its cloud-based video collaboration platform for six months to organizations worldwide impacted by the coronavirus.
- Ribbon Communications: Provided free Work@Home licenses until June 30, 2020, offering a complete Unified Communications and Collaboration solution for enterprises transitioning to an all-remote workforce.
- Jamm: Offered a free audio-visual communication tool for three months, allowing remote teams to record videos or conduct live calls.
- Wildix: Provided free six-month access to Wildix Collaboration, a web-based communications tool for secure employee communication.
- Noisli: Offered two months of the Business plan free, providing background sounds to help teams focus while working from home.
Document Management and Security
To facilitate the handling of digital agreements and files, several platforms offered free access to their plans.
- Box: Provided a free secure file sharing and collaboration platform (Business plan) for three months, including unlimited storage and advanced security reporting.
- PandaDoc: Offered a free eSign plan featuring unlimited users, document uploads, eSignatures, and payment processing.
- Docusign: Provided free access to manage electronic agreements.
- Lucidchart: Offered a free single-user account with access to introductory libraries and basic templates for visualization and collaboration.
Project Management and Databases
Tools designed to organize workflows and data were also made available at no cost.
- Wrike: Offered free licenses of the Professional edition for six months to new customers, while current customers could add unlimited collaborators.
- Smartsheet: Provided free templates for building coronavirus preparedness dashboards, including CDC documentation.
- Airtable: Offered free use of the Airtable Pro plan for any non-political, humanitarian effort tackling COVID relief, with no time limit.
Educational and Student Engagement Tools
With schools and universities closing, tools for student interaction and assessment were released for free.
- FeedbackFruits: Offered free student engagement and assessment LMS tools for higher-ed teachers to make content interactive.
- Panopto: Provided free three-month access to video capture and distribution for businesses and educational institutions.
Specialized Industry and Non-Profit Support
Specific offers targeted nonprofits, healthcare providers, and government agencies.
- ServiceNow: Rolled out free software to help organizations digitize workflows, including new applications specific to the crisis.
- Yext: Offered a free 90-day trial of Yext Answers, a site search product to answer consumer COVID-19 queries in real-time.
- EZTexting: Provided free emergency text alert services to schools, including 100,000 outgoing text messages for six months and message templates.
- Anaplan: Offered free 90-day access for qualifying nonprofits, government agencies, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies.
- Box: (Mentioned previously) specifically encouraged organizations working to stop the virus to apply for their free business plan.
- Hiver: Offered free Shared Inboxes on the highest plan for two months to eligible small businesses on the frontlines.
- Workhuman: Provided free special editions of Life Events and Conversations products until March 2021 to mitigate isolation.
- Noisli: (Mentioned previously) focused on productivity for remote teams.
Protective Gear and Industry-Specific Offers
The tobacco and vaping industries utilized the pandemic to offer promotional freebies involving protective gear, often bundled with product purchases. These offers generated controversy due to the health risks associated with vaping and smoking, particularly regarding respiratory health during a respiratory pandemic.
According to reports, several vaping companies offered free masks and gloves with purchases:
- Moti Piin: Offered two free surgical masks with the purchase of a battery-powered vaping pen from their online shop.
- Smok: Offered chances to win disposable gloves and up to 10,000 masks with the purchase of sleek cartridges.
- Other Online Shops: Promoted "COVID19 RELIEF EFFORT" ads offering two-for-one e-liquid vials or 19% off nicotine e-juices using codes like "COVID-19."
These marketing tactics were criticized by anti-smoking advocates, including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, who noted the hypocrisy of an industry damaging lungs offering relief for a respiratory virus.
Conclusion
The response to the coronavirus pandemic by brands and service providers resulted in a diverse ecosystem of freebies designed to alleviate financial and logistical burdens. While food delivery services focused on removing fees and ensuring safety, the technology sector provided extensive resources to support the global shift to remote work and education. The inclusion of free protective gear by vaping companies highlights a unique, albeit controversial, intersection of marketing and pandemic relief. Consumers seeking these offers during that period relied on curated lists from deal aggregators to access time-sensitive free trials, software licenses, and delivery waivers.