This entertaining and informative blog was submitted by our Director of Communications, Deidra Lookingbill.
Not too long ago, I was facing a dilemma. Our spare bedroom is happily needing to be transformed into a nursery, which means my family and I faced the removal of many of our seldom used furnishings. Among these items was a futon that was purchased with the intent of serving as an extra bed on those holidays that were bustling with family scrambling for a soft place to lay their heads. We did not take into account, when we purchased the futon, how little it would be used. In seven years, it was slept on a total of two times.
I sent out a notice through my social networking groups, telling all of my friends and family that we had a practically new futon with two covers that they could have for free so long as they agreed to pick it up. No one showed the slightest interest, so I took it a bit further. I took my ad to a group that specializes in the giving away of household items; nary a bite. I then went to the popular online ad service, Craigslist, and listed my futon again for free.
Silence.
Just for fun, I relisted the futon with the same description, this time with an asking price of $20. Within hours, I had a half dozen offers, with one gentlemen offering more than my asking price to guarantee that he could get the futon, sight unseen. He picked it up the next day and before I removed the ad I had at least 20 inquiries.
One would think that this is an isolated incident, but when relaying the story to a friend, she had an idea as well. She had been unable to get rid of an old but working refrigerator. It sat unused in her garage for weeks because she did not want to pay to have the over sized item removed. She changed her own ad from “free” to “$200” and the refrigerator was gone before the night was over.
Why, then, do would be customers prefer to get a “deal” rather than a free item? The old adage “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. Many consumers are skeptical of free offers, thinking that there is a catch or that the item in question will cause more harm than good. Conversely, when a customer receives a discount, large or small, he or she is more apt to feel as though they are benefiting from a valuable opportunity, and they are more likely to jump at the chance to take advantage of the offer.
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