I’ve written about Try Leh vending machines before but I’ve yet to feature the interview with the folks behind this company. 
Hence, this blogpost! Also, as you can tell from the picture above, I’ve claimed three freebies from the Try Leh vending machine at SAFRA Punggol today: The Golden Duck’s Salted Egg Yolk Potato Ridges, ‘SOLAR POWER’ energy drink (produced in Greece!) and the Perrier Pineapple Mango sparkling juice beverage (produced in France!) All FREE! Crazy, isn’t it?!
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If you’d like to get 2 BONUS COINS (won’t expire) to redeem an additional 2 free samples, use my referral link to sign up (FOR FREE) with Try Leh ok: https://www.tryleh.com?refcode=728906 *Disclosure: I’ll also get 2 bonus coins… GAMSIA!
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What I enjoyed most was being able to see the real-time quantity of each item in the machine via the Try Leh website. After lunch, I saw that there were 11 units of the salted egg yolk chips available so I decided to walk over to SAFRA Punggol to try and claim one. Along the way, that number dropped to 9. OMG! What a way to make me abandon the stroll. Haha! By the time I was near SAFRA Punggol, that number had dropped yet again to 8.
Thankfully, I managed to get 1 and it was not a wasted trip! The good thing about being able to see the reduction in quantity is that it told me the machine’s working and not ‘under maintenance’ like another time I’d popped by SAFRA Punggol and found that yes, the machine was fully stocked, but wasn’t working. (@_@)
I’ll leave my review of the chips till the end. First… here are the answers to the 5 questions I’d sent over to the Try Leh team in 2021:
1) When was Try Leh started, and what challenges did you face when starting the business, and what are the challenges you face now?
We focused mainly on creating a user-friendly system which anyone can easily understand and adopt instantly. The most challenging part of the journey is interpreting ideas digitally into the backend systems. There are so many processes going on behind the scenes in order to create a seamless experience.
2) I’ve noticed that 3 of your 5 machines are at SAFRA locations. Why did you choose to work with SAFRA instead of shopping malls for all your machines?
We want to cater to family-orientated crowds, and SAFRA has a good footfall of parents and grandparents bringing their children and grandkids for enrichment courses and activities. This provides us with ample chances to be discovered during their idle times while waiting. During these periods our free sample service provides a little entertainment and the samples dispensed serve as great talking points as well.
3) After my first redemption at your SAFRA Punggol machine, I went back again another day but the machine was down. Would you consider indicating machine downtime on your website so users can check before heading down to the machine? 
That’s for sure, we are definitely improving as we continually try to boost user-friendliness of our service, and of course to enhance the way we communicate with our members too. This includes implementing measures to keep members in the loop when there are new products to anticipate, and Kiosk malfunctions.
4) I’ve noticed that the samples you offer are very interesting, such as the Smooze! fruit ice. What would you say are the reasons for these brands / companies choosing to work with Try Leh to distribute their samples?
Companies that choose to work with us do it because it gives consumers a chance to try their products or services for free. Not only this sparks joy and brings delight, but it also helps garner valuable feedback in return. Businesses are after all catering to consumers, and the consumer’s opinion matters tremendously in how a brand will be perceived – and eventually preferred over their competitors.
5) Moving forward, what can we expect to see from Try Leh? (I’m hoping it won’t be annoying ads, which I’m seeing when redeeming samples from *ahem* other machines).
You can expect us (Try Leh) to honour our zero-cost policy forever. We are not intending to deploy advertisements as well. Our objective is simple, which is to provide quality samples for you and your family. What you can expect is for more and more Free Sample Kiosks to pop up over the island; as we progress and strike more and more meaningful partnerships with the most generous brands in the world.
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Now, for my review of the 54g (mini) pack of salted egg yolk potato ridges from The Golden Duck…
The (larger) 113g pack costs $7.50 via TGD’s website ($20 for free shipping, 10% off if you sign up for their newsletter). So this sample I got from the vending machine should be worth about $3+!
Don’t expect too many chips though. I think I counted about 10 or so. But they’re crispy and that salted egg yolk goodness is indeed ‘lodged’ within those ridges so each chip gives you more satisfaction. That said, I think they can be spicier and a little sweeter. But I guess if IRVINS’ version is overpowering for you, then you’ll enjoy TDG’s.
All in all… very worth the brisk walk / almost-jog to SAFRA Punggol. I managed to clock 10K steps today! LOL!!!
If you’d like to get 2 BONUS COINS (won’t expire) to redeem an additional 2 free samples, use my referral link to sign up (FOR FREE) with Try Leh ok: https://www.tryleh.com?refcode=728906 *Disclosure: I’ll also get 2 bonus coins… GAMSIA!