Response to week 4 reading Free! why $0.00 is the future of business.

I am an advertising company's dream...It's not as though I intentionally go out to spend money, but that is exactly what happens when I see something that screams 'free' - it just sucks me right in. And I know I'm not Robinson Crusoe there.

It could be as innocent as a cereal box at the supermarket, which says 'buy this 5 kg box of rice bubbles and you receive a 'snap, crackle, pop' children's calculator for free!' Once I've bought the box home (that will take our small family about six months to eat) I notice the small print, where I have to send $5 for postage & handling costs, so it's not really FREE after all!

Then there's the cliche I succumb to the most 'buy one get one free'. So instead of buying one top, I'll get two for the price of one. Never mind they bump the price up for the first top so you are really paying for two anyway.

My most recent visit to the supermarket found me buying 2 x 10 litre cans of olive oil because they were 50% off, meaning I was getting two for the price of one. My husband thinks I'm insane as it will take us a year to get through all the oil - ha, but look how much money I saved us!!

Just last Sunday, the Melbourne Herald Sun had a small add on the bottom of the front page declaring 'FREE PETROL'. Looking inside, the article said 'your chance to win free petrol'. But think of how many people would have seen the front page and bought the paper? The term FREE on it's own is enticing, but put the word 'petrol' with it and watch the newspapers fly out the door.

My biggest time waster at the moment is facebook. I just can't seem to tear myself away from it, searching for long lost school buddies, checking out the photos of someones new baby, it's never ending. But is it really free? I consider the fact that I'm logged into the internet for 10 hours a day not 'free'.

This obsession with facebook is costing me $79.95 per month just in internet access costs. (I know I can get cheaper broadband and that I'm getting ripped off - long story, for another time). Then there are the clever advertisements down the left hand side of the page. I'm scared to click on them, because the one and only time I did, I apparently asked someone to send me an email every week telling me how I can win a greencard to the USA. So you see, FREE doesn't really mean FREE at all. Oh, hang on, I found one example...here.