{"id":653,"date":"2014-02-07T04:05:24","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T04:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=653"},"modified":"2021-03-14T07:24:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T07:24:29","slug":"americas-favorite-four-letter-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2014\/02\/07\/americas-favorite-four-letter-word\/","title":{"rendered":"America’s Favorite Four-Letter Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s a four-letter word that is music to the ears of the hearer, and brings happiness to the heart of the reader? Clue: the number one definition on www.freedictionary.com<\/a> is, \u201cNot imprisoned or enslaved,\u201d while the more appropriate number seven meaning is, \u201cCosting nothing, [or] gratuitous.\u201d A crossword buff probably guessed by now, it\u2019s the word, \u201cfree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our society loves this term that conjures up the thought of getting something for nothing. In confirmation, when one googles this famous four-letter word, instantly you are confronted with more than 3,290,000,000 references. That\u2019s billions, not millions of related searches including: \u201cfree products, free games, totally free stuff, free samples, free translations\u2026.\u201d etc. Marketers know what suckers we all are for advertising that professes to give something away.<\/p>\n

I learned a lot about this type of marketing years ago, when I was employed as a corporate representative for a large manufacturer that supplied products to supermarkets. Occasionally, on a Friday afternoon when the grocery store was packed, I would stand in a product aisle offering shoppers a generous coupon to buy a comparable item to the one they normally purchased. It was amazing how often brand loyalty could be bought for a couple of bucks. In fairness, there were also those die-hard loyalists who refused to switch no matter how large the coupon.<\/p>\n

A column devoted solely to consumer coupon behavior would take on a life of its own, but let\u2019s get back to marketing strategies touting free products. Because even better than a coupon savings of a few dollars, is getting an item absolutely free. Whether, it\u2019s a free gift with purchase, a buy one get one free, a free trial, or free information; buyers often forget that the seller almost always has an ulterior motive.<\/p>\n

Most of our parents warned us that there are no free lunches in life. Apparently, not everyone knows this, because an individual named Fidora emailed Yahoo! Answers at www.yahooanswers.com<\/a> asking, \u201cWhat is the meaning of this quote, \u2018There is no free lunch?\u2019\u201d The consensus of the 10 answers offered was that somewhere down the line there is a cost for everything.<\/p>\n

Therein lies the problem. If you don\u2019t think you are paying for something you aren\u2019t too concerned about whether it\u2019s a good deal, or not. To implement the age-old philosophy of Caveat Emptor which is a Latin term for, \u201cLet the buyer beware,\u201d you have to possess a purchaser\u2019s mentality. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language explains that Caveat Emptor is, \u201cThe axiom or principle in commerce that the buyer alone is responsible for assessing the quality of a purchase before buying.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, like most astute consumers when spending your hard earned cash on an item you want the biggest bang for your buck. But if it\u2019s free, you aren\u2019t worried about a product\u2019s quality.\u00a0There are na\u00efve buyers born every minute who are enticed by this type of “bait and switch” advertising. Take me, for example. I didn’t think I could lose when I eagerly requested the “free” designer scarf, which accompanied a magazine subscription that I didn’t really need. I could hardly believe my good fortune,\u00a0until the scarf arrived in the mail about a week ago. It was paper thin and barely fit around my neck. My husband laughed out loud when I showed it to him.<\/p>\n

This is just one account of my getting free stuff, which has robbed my budget in the long run. Honestly, I probably wouldn\u2019t have purchased the magazine had there not been a free gift incentive. In my defense, I\u2019m not alone in this behavior, or the word, \u201cfree\u201d wouldn\u2019t be everywhere. Yet there are free products that can be helpful. Like a buy one get one free dinner to a restaurant you\u2019ve always wanted to try, or frequently visit. Even then, watch that you don\u2019t spend more on a higher-priced meal, beverages, or desserts than you normally would, while celebrating your free meal.<\/p>\n

In closing, I hope it\u2019s ok to share the wisdom that I\u2019ve learned along life\u2019s path. \u00a0Remember the old saying, \u201cIf something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.\u201d Most free offers are in the too good to be true category. Now, you can take that free advice all the way to the bank.<\/p>\n

This blog post originally appeared in The Lima News, and in the Troy Daily News. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s a four-letter word that is music to the ears of the hearer, and brings happiness to the heart of the reader? Clue: the number one definition on www.freedictionary.com is, \u201cNot imprisoned or enslaved,\u201d while the more appropriate number seven … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[362,354,343,349,361,358,353,352,359,344,345,357,346,363,356,347,342,348,351,350,355,360],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-practical-advice-on-the-road-less-traveled","tag-advertising","tag-brand-loyalty","tag-buy-one-get-one","tag-buyer","tag-caveat-emptor","tag-consumer-behavior","tag-coupons","tag-crossword","tag-free-lunch","tag-free-merchandise","tag-free-offers","tag-free-trial","tag-google","tag-magazine-offer","tag-manufacturer","tag-marketer","tag-marketing","tag-products","tag-purchase","tag-seller","tag-supermarket","tag-www-yahooanswers-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}