I briefly worked for a wholly owned subsidiary of Dupont, the gigantic multinational chemical company. There was definitely branded clothing you could buy or be given somehow. Company guidance was to not wear it when travelling to certain third world countries because it made you kidnap or murder bait. They only sent me to Japan, Taiwan and China so I would have presumably been safe.
Was it actually worse than the wine you usually got?
The only one I remember was at Sun, where I got a bag with a cooler and a pair of mediocre binoculars. The called it “Executive Outing KIt.”
The one I got after that was an American Express gift card of enough value so I could buy my wife something nice.
I think so; but this was close to fifty years ago and I don’t remember for sure. t
For the company’s special anniversary, they put the company logo on a normal locomotive which was already in service. There are quite a few companies in Switzerland which have done this, so it’s not all that unusual. The logo stayed in place for one year, and it was quite cool to see it out in the wild. It was (is?) possible to buy a model version of the same locomotive, either powered or passive (cheaper). I know quite a few coworkers bought one. As far as I know, it is not limited to employees, or former employees, but I doubt most people would be interested in a model with that logo.
There is a catalog and any employee can order company logo items, but some are restricted for customers.
Just a small nitpick FTR. When Sony first introduced the Trinitron tube, the only size that was available was 12". But it was considered revolutionary in terms of picture quality, so it would not have been a bad gift for the time. I had one, and loved it.
But maybe kinda a cheap gift for 2005, for sure! That was decades later! I don’t think Sony ever made a 13", but it may have been a 15".
I can’t remember the exact size (I was guessing at 13"), but either way, it wasn’t a big screen.
The college I worked at gave you a chair after 25 years. It’s actually a good one (over $200 if you buy it in their store) and comes engraved with your name. They also gave used to give gifts after 5, 10, 15, and 20 years, but switched to giving gift certificates because people wanted to choose something they needed.
For my 25th anniversary with the company I picked out a Chelsea shipstrike clock/barometer. I’m pretty sure the company didn’t pay retail price for them, but they’re not inexpensive.
My wife had similiar options when she had her 20 years with her employer. Their catalog had lots of jewelry, which she doesn’t wear, and logo branded knicknacks. She said that I could pick, so I chose a Replogle gem globe.
I can see both of these items as I am sitting here in our living room.
The “gifts” we were offered in our anniversary booklet were mostly junk. Even if the items were something I generally might want, the style or quality wasn’t to my taste. But mostly it was a lot of crap like golf balls, big honking belt buckles (???), boring jewelry, and lame suitcases. For a few years, the woman in charge of running the program signed up with Tiffany. Sadly, I didn’t have an anniversary in that small window of time. I’d have loved a gift certificate, but they never gave them when I was working. I can’t even remember what I chose as my retirement gift. I only remember those I received from particular work friends and from my work group.