Also, most schwag is terrible. It seems mostly geared towards young men. And even then it’s boring.

For example, as a woman, I will never wear a company T Shirt or a baseball cap with a partner’s logo on it. It’s just not part of my style.

So the schwag that’s actually useful is more stuff that’s worth it. The best schwag I got was a universal tool that was the size of a credit card, with the company branding on it. It’s been invaluable many times. And when you offer it in lieu of a business card almost no one says “nah I don’t need a handy tool that fits in my wallet”.

Other schwag I’ve enjoyed include: pens and notebooks (boring but always useful), universal phone charger, fancy insulating waterbottle etc.

Basically if you want to spend money in schwag at least buy stuff that the employees won’t throw out in a day or two. Or just never use.