Is it really ‘free’?

There is an old Jamaican proverb that says, ‘Anyting free nuh good’. In essence this means that no one gives anything away if it is of value.

In this difficult economy most companies are hardly in a position to offer anything free to their customers. However, despite this some companies still try to offer promotions. They often highlight the word ‘free’ in their advertisements to tempt customers to try their product.

Often the item advertised as ‘free’ has a cost attached to it that might be hidden from the consumer. The company might also offer an item that is not popular or try to introduce a sample of a new product.

I recently saw in a grocery store, a cereal being sold with an offer of three free packages of a popular vegetable juice.

Although I was tempted to buy the cereal so as to take advantage of the free offer a quick glance at the price of the cereal made me change my mind.

The cereal’s cost after G.C.T was almost $600.00. Now that cereal is normally sold at that price but it was certainly more money than I had planned to spend.

A close look at the price convinced me though that this free offer was tempting, I was not going to buy that brand of cereal as it was too expensive.
However, if you already buy that brand of cereal then I suppose that you might benefit from the free offer as the price would not be an obstacle.

Another ‘free’ promotion that is popular is at fast food restaurants.

One restaurant in particular is currently running a promotion where customers who buy a special combo meal get a ‘free’ festival.

I am not sure if the festival is not a popular item but the combo meal surely got a boost as customers seem to be taking up the free offer.

Other items might be offered as ‘free’ because it is nearing its expiration date and so stores use this promotion to reduce their quantities.

So sometimes the items offered free might not be of the best quality.

Should you accept free products?

Okay so are there genuine deals where items are offered free?

There are some companies who want to encourage new customers by offering them the opportunity to get something without paying for it.
Customers have to be selective and take free products that they would normally have paid full price.

It is also important to check the quality of any item being offered as free.

So do you get any ‘free’ products?

Tags: consumer, discounts