Are you in love with a particular brand or product? If so, you may be able to leverage that to get free coupons or samples from that company. How? Through old fashion letter writing.

It’s nice to know that in the age of technology, some things haven’t changed. Most large companies still have PR and customer relation departments that respond to customer opinions. I hadn’t written a letter to a big company since I was in elementary school and did so as an exercise. But recently, I found out that the pen (or keyboard) is still mighty powerful for saving money.

My personal favorite drink of choice is Crystal Geyser’s all natural “Juice Squeeze”. It’s a carbonated beverage made from real fruit juice, and I simply love it. I drink at least 2 a day. I talk about the stuff all the time, to the point where my friends sometimes make fun of me. One jokingly suggested I write a love letter to the company. I didn’t take it seriously. But then I mentioned it to another friend. He told me that his girlfriend always writes to her favorite companies, and they send her many different things, ranging from coupons to products samples. He suggested I go for it.

So I went to their website and found contact info for their customer service department. I wrote them a letter telling them how great their juice is and how much I enjoy it.

Within a week I received a grateful and personal response from someone in their corporate office, and they offered to send me some free coupons for more Juice Squeeze. I was delighted! I gave them my address and a few days later I received 5 $1 off coupons for my favorite beverage.

This was a really great experience. Not only did I save some money, I was able to express my genuine appreciation for one of my favorite products. And all it took was a couple minutes of my time and a short email.

You can easily do the same thing regardless of what product we’re talking about. I’ve heard of people doing this with other food products like granola bars or coffee, or even things like diapers or razor blades. The point is to write a nice, personal note that is based on genuineappreciation, and most companies will respond with some kind of a discount, coupon, or gift.

Simply google the name of the company in question and add “customer service” or “customer relations” to your query. It should pop up with a page or two with various phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. An email works well, but I’ve heard that a handwritten letter can be even more effective. In the age of electronic communication, even big companies really appreciate someone taking the time to express their thoughts on paper, and will often reward your thoughtfullness with some nice savings.

Seth Jared is a blogger who writes about lifestlyle and technology, including online psychic readings and the best dslr for video.