[crazygringo]

To be clear, it's not marketing swag which is what people usually think of when they think of "swag" that's given to potential customers.

It's more like custom team t-shirts, custom figurines, custom bobbleheads, and whatnot. Special rare acrylic desk pieces for every patent your team has generated. Stuff that says "hey, we're a team and we've been through some stuff, like important launches and inventions that we're proud of, and these are symbolic reminders of that".

Similarly, traveling -- whether to a conference or a team-building prototyping retreat -- is a way to build bonds and trust with your coworkers, in a way that just doesn't happen in the regular 9-5 in the office or (worse yet) over Zoom.

When you work in a 100,000+ person company, it's really, really easy to feel depressingly lost and just a cog in the machine. It's both the little mementos and the big travel experiences that help us remember the path we've been on and get to know the people we work with as human beings.

So it really does feel like nickel-and-diming when these are some of the most effective long-term investments you can make in a team.