You'd Like Free if You Didn't Despise it

Just put the finishing touches on a COLLIDE article about how much we detest free. While we enthusiastically embrace the idea of free, we treat it with very little respect. Free carries with it an inherent perception of no value.

I tend not to read books that I get for free. I skip out early on conferences I didn't pay for. I can't tell you the last time I actually took one of the free "Pick of the Week" iTunes cards at Starbucks. The conferences I most want to attend cost a fortune. Probably because they cost a fortune.

As much as we like the idea of free, there's something inside of us that says, "How could something truly valuable be free?" Of course, it's preposterous. But under the right circumstances, we will actually grossly overpay for things simply because of how it makes us feel.

Comments

[Matt]

Completely different context, but we were in a position to offer free product to every one of our potential customers in a certain state via grant. None of them took us up on it. None.

[Mike O]

I'm more inclined to think "What's the catch" - sort of like those book clubs with four free books. The catch is you have to buy books in the coming year (and you have to remember to send the stupid card back every month!)

But, if something is truly free, I ask myself if it is part of a social economy - should I put something back. Like bringing donuts to work once a month. Again, a subtle agenda.

But, I agree, sometimes we overpay, just because of the feeling provided.

[Stephen Bateman]

You're clearly right, people don't appreciate free, but I don't know why.

I got Chris Anderson's book "Free" for $0 and listened intently to the whole thing. Wordpress & Google are free, and people use those tools like they paid for them in gold.

hmm...

[Ben Arment]

i pay for my typepad account and for the increased storage space on google, so it could be just me.

four years ago, Ainsley and I won an all expenses paid trip to London to attend the world premiere of Chronicles of Narnia. Kodak was the one who contacted us, and Ainsley almost hung up the phone on them. So glad she didn't. No catch. Best trip of our lives.

[Rich Emery]

Wow thats funny I love getting the free music from Starbucks, free books I will take them and read them, Guru's of Tech conference FREE, I would of loved to go but I could not afford to get there.

May be I am one in a million but to me free is great i love it

[Christy]

so very true of how we treat the gospel and God's grace as well. completely free to us. yet we do all we can to merit His love, or prove ourselves worthy of salvation.

how much more we would have if we could simply relax and be gracious receivers.

[Mary Beth]

I've also received free books and never cracked them open. There are so many things I want/need to read, if the free book doesn't fall into a desired learning area, I simply don't have time for it. I think it's ok that "free" doesn't translate as "must". On the other hand, if it's a subject I'm going to grow on, it will get read.

Other free gimmicky give-aways usually wind up in the trash. Usually advertising some service/product with a logo, these items are cheap and most times, not practical...(how many water bottles or magnets does one person need?) But, boy, do we love to collect them in the rush of an event.

[bondChristian]

I agree. Perceived value is everything. Free often carries a low perceived value. Sometimes it actually takes extra effort to show that something free is valuable. Usually with an expensive price tag, the value isn't difficult to convey. A lesson in sales is that you can sometimes sell something for a lot of money and end up with better customers than if you'd sold it for less.

-Marshall Jones Jr.

[Daniel Decker]

Free has been misused for so long as a bait and switch, no wonder people are apprehensive of it. FREE Disney Tickets (*with 18 hour visit to a time share sales bonanza). FREE CD (*with $19.95 for shipping and handling). FREE T-Shirt (*if you complete this form that gives us your info so we can mail you junk and sell your contact info to every direct mail organization on the planet).

I think free and its value or lack thereof is very contextual. It also has to do with how free is solicited, whether that be intrusive like a telemarketer calling our homes unwanted or something we perceive as more legit via an outlet we trust. In the form of something like a product, event or service… free can certainly bring a devaluation, especially when someone tries to use free as the lead in – it lowers the bar. When it comes to ideas and how they spread, especially on the web, free is different and not met with near the apprehension. Case in point, Seth Godin. Free downloadable eBook that distributes ideas via dozens of partners and millions of potential downloads = good. (We’ve come to trust Seth as a legit offerer of free… ideas). Youtube is another example. Free exchange of entertainment and ideas. It’s not free for whoever produced it but it’s free for those of us who consume it and share it.

Back to the physical product… I do think free, depending on how it’s used, can add value rather than take it away. How free is used and who is using it is the issue. I don’t detest or devalue Chick-Fil-A when they occasionally give me a card for a free chicken sandwich. It makes me happy. I don’t think “What’s the catch” because I trust them in a way and I know the value proposition matches. Free $3 sandwich is more believable to not have a catch versus a free $300 something from someone or something (brand) that I don’t know.