Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about to be free, or not to be free.

THE PROMPT: "When is Free Better? When Not?"

Good evening everyone! Interesting prompt to start a new month off, so I'll hit it head-on.

When is free better? I'd argue that it's always better. However, because I like a good argument as much as the next guy, I'll ague my own point.

When is free not better? Let's start right here at Writing.com, for example. You can tell by the following chart that free isn't always the way to go. http://www.writing.com/main/shop/cat/Memberships There are many services that offer "free" versions of what they offer, and "premium" versions that offer more for a fee. What it boils down to, basically, is you get what you pay for. Not to slight WDC's free site, but it's definitely worth it to buy the upgraded versions.

One could also argue that everything has a cost, regardless. Sure, a store may offer something for free during a special promotion, but they make up for the loss they're taking on the free item by making you purchase something else...maybe something you don't want or need, but you see the word "free" and that's all that registers in your mind, and you'll do what it takes to get it.

Our store runs several promotions like this every week. You buy an item at a sale price, and you receive a coupon good for that item's price off your next purchase, "as if you're getting it for free". But you're not...you have to come back and spend at least that much in the next few weeks, in order to use that coupon. So, it's not really free. Let's play with math for a minute...(true story) A 3-pack of condoms is on sale for $3, and you get a $3 coupon on your next purchase. Next week, the condoms are back to their regular price of $3.99. You buy it and redeem your $3 coupon, spending 99 cents. So you got two packs of condoms for $6.99, which is a savings for sure, but not truly free. Why is this a true story? Because it happened. A scruffy, kinda dirty 70-year-old man limps in to the store, pointing to the ad and asking me "where the rubbers are". Rubbers? Who over the age of 15 calls them that anymore? And if you have to ask where something like that is, chances are, you haven't had the need to purchase them in quite some time. I think it's a pretty safe bet that he only wanted them because they seemed free.

So let's sum it up: Free, it's usually pretty good. Not free? It can usually be better than free. Free condoms aren't always free.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

Wow...that didn't work out as planned. I was gonna write a little tidbit about how important freedom of speech is, and include an old Ice-T clip from back in the day called "Freedom Of Speech (Just Watch What You Say". That is, until I listened to it. You know me, always pushing boundaries...and even I had to limit myself by not posting that. That's what happens when you haven't listened to your cassettes in about 10 years. That, and most of the population only knows Ice-T now from some stupid cop show on NBC. So I'm going with this instead (I understand if you want to skip it, but it's legendary considering who it is and when it was originally performed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqrMDyPx99U I know the audio quality is garbagy, but that's not the point itself.

VITAL STATS:

Took a 1.5-hour nap after work today. I hardly ever nap, and when I do it's never for that long. So it looks like I'll be up for a little while...

Bonus of staying up? I'll catch the Sabres game on the west coast, which starts in about five minutes.

Ya know what's not a bonus? I'll be draggin' ass throughout the morning at work tomorrow.

So with that, I'mma go ahead and get outta your hair for the evening. Peace, love, Go Sabres, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8y_XELbssc