FREE! FREE!

Give me an F! Give me an R! And give me a double E! Tell me what does that spell? That spells FREE! To anyone especially a straving art student such as myself, the four letter word that fills me up with joy is the word "free". And with the economy in the toliet, our doubts of where our next meals is going to be is important as well as if the next paycheck will cover the expenses.

By being a full time college student i understand the challeges that come with going to college. I have a part time job that helps with buying supplies or gas (which has shot back up again). Then with California in a major crunch for cash, Cal Grants may even be harder to obtain. I admit that if there is someething that is offered and it say "FREE!" hey i will look to see what it is. But if the item is useless to me then what is the point of taking it. That free item wil become another nick nac on my shelf or just thrown in the junk drawer and eventually be thrown away.

However stores display the word free to lure people into their shops praying that they will buy somehting to help save them from the drowning economy. Ithink now a days people don't preform spur of the moment shopping like they use to. It seems that they have been able to gain control over the money spending fiend that lives inside of them. Yet im sure there are some people who still grace the mall with a loaded wallet to make petty purchases like Paris Hilton who said she was gonna help the economy by shopping. Like she hasn't been doing that before. I see it as another excuse to shop without consequnece.

Sadly enough i do ot possess the wealth that Paris Hilton or other celebrities that have the ability to support our crumbling economy.

Why don't we all do something that doesn't cost a thing to help everyone feel better? How about we follow that one guy's example of giving out free hugs? I sure alot people right about now wouldn't mind a simple gesture of kindness from one person to another.

The Price Games Folks Play

When reading the book Predictably Irrational, the author pointed out the way people look at prices and how it is difficult to make a decision on certain things. An example he used was about looking at two trips to Europe both were for one week and included air fare, hotel accommodations, tours and free breakfast every morning. The choice was between Paris and Rome. I mean how awesome would it be to go on a trip to Paris and Rome with everything included the choice is a hard one to make.

So to help you make that choice the travel agent installs a decoy, a third option. This third option is the mental bomb that blows everything we thought first about out first decision out of the water. OK are you ready to hear your third choice? OK here it is, Rome without the free breakfast aka -Rome aka the decoy. According to Dan Ariely you would see how option three is a step down the ladder from the other Rome package. So you are now tricked into choosing Rome with everything included. Talk about your mind being hit with a mental katana from a metal ninja.

When I first read this I thought it was interesting, I had also had some idea about the way companies price their merchandise since mi madre has worked in retail for fifteen years. Her old boss owned her own little kids clothing store and was always anal about the way the clothes were tagged. Luckily my mom had been working with her for a long time and knew the ways of the force when it came to the labeling. "People like whole numbers" my mom said "give then an odd price like a $1.75 they won't buy it."