Getting items for free can be great: there’s no apparent cost; you get to enjoy the item you receive; and your brain might even receive a small buzz from finding such a great deal. All in all, choosing to get something that is free seems like an obvious decision. If you want the item, then you use it. If you don’t, then there was no harm to the transaction—because it was free, right?
Unfortunately, free isn’t always so free. In fact, free can sometimes be downright costly. Consider this example from Dan Ariely, a professor at Duke University and whose book, Predictably Irrational, I cannot recommend highly enough:
A New York City nightclub recently promoted an event by giving out “free tattoos” with admission. Somewhat surprisingly, over 70 people signed up for these tattoos over the course of five hours. On the surface, this appears to be a great outcome: the club was able to attract customers for its event, and the customers who came out presumably had wanted to get a tattoo anyway. So what’s the big deal?
It seems that the people in line for tattoos were not wooed so much by the tattoos as they were by their freeness. In fact, Ariely found that of all the people on line, roughly 70% of them said that they were only getting the tattoos because they were free.
Getting a tattoo is a costly decision—even when it’s free. For one, the tattoo will be on your skin for life. Sure, there are removal procedures, but they are often extremely expensive and can take years to repair the skin entirely.
So when you get a tattoo, even a free one, you’re either committing to a very long-term design, or committing yourself to expensive operations down the road. Neither one gets broadcast as a cost by the nightclub, but each is certainly important.
So when you get a tattoo, even a free one, you’re either committing to a very long-term design, or committing yourself to expensive operations down the road. Neither one gets broadcast as a cost by the nightclub, but each is certainly important.
Not only do ‘free’ transactions sometimes have hidden financial costs (think of the ‘free’ furniture you might find at the end of a school year and then must pay to put into storage), but they can also have unexpected health consequences.
In the case of the free tattoos, it seems that the cost-cutting and fleeting nature of the gimmick had caused health standards to go out the window. The customers, attracted by the power of ‘free,’ probably would not have flocked to a club advertising ‘Free HIV’ or ‘Free Hep C.’ But when framed differently (getting a cool, new tattoo), these consequences were not apparent.
How could the tattoo-recipients have changed their behavior to figure out if they really wanted the tattoos? Perhaps the simplest recommendation is to pretend that the item is not free, but is instead very cheap. For instance, Ariely suggests considering that the tattoo costs $1. At that price, it is certainly below market value, but it no longer causes the whoosh in your brain of getting an item for ‘nothing at all.’
In the above case, if the customer would still want the tattoo at a merely cheap price, then going ahead with the free deal might not be so bad. There is still a chance of bad consequences, but at least the customer is choosing to purchase the product—not just purchasing it because it is free.
Another suggestion to make better decisions is to outline the true hidden costs of a transaction. This can be difficult, because the costs are often disguised, but it is definitely worthwhile.
For example, if you happen upon a coupon for a free soda with the purchase of a hamburger, you might not be getting such a good deal. Similarly, if you happen upon a free set of speakers in the basement of your dormitory, but then must purchase a bunch of old connector wires, the deal might not be so great.
For example, if you happen upon a coupon for a free soda with the purchase of a hamburger, you might not be getting such a good deal. Similarly, if you happen upon a free set of speakers in the basement of your dormitory, but then must purchase a bunch of old connector wires, the deal might not be so great.
None of this is to suggest that you should always turn down ‘free.’ Some of the time free is a great option; you find exactly what you are looking for at exactly the right financial cost. But other times, the power of free can cause us to make decisions we would otherwise not make.
In those cases, it can be helpful to reframe the price as cheap rather than free, or to consider what hidden costs might be lurking beneath the surface. If the item still seems desirable, then—by all means—go ahead. But if it doesn’t, then you just might have found a situation in which free isn’t really so free.
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