Free stuff brings out the greed in us

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

frugalprincess — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:23:42 GMT

We need an article on "Freebie Etiquette" to educate the mass populous on good manners and behavior. You know, like tipping the staff based on what a free meal would have cost, using coupons sent with free items, not requesting more than one item per household, etc.

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

Elizabeth's Mom — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:12:46 GMT

My Dad was in business for many years. He had a great saying: "People will take a head cold if it's free." Too true!

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

Spaz — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:36:18 GMT

We have pens at our stations for customers to use 1 man takes 3 pens each time he comes in which is 3 times a week times 52 weeks is 450 pens a year. That is stealing in my mind and they continue to let him do it. We order the most pens of any on the 9 branches and they wonder why. I worked the home show for the bank to promote the banks low loan and mortgage rates. I gave out a ton of gadgets and answered 1 question in 4 hours. Some people came back to see if we had different stuff. What greediness.

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:44:44 GMT

Joyce Vermilyea, the only way to get your credit report for free is to go to annualcreditreport.com. You are allowed one copy from each credit reporting agency per year. It will ask for your ss#, but its a secure site. To get your credit score, go on myfico.com, this is not free, its about $12 per reporting agency.

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

Joyce Vermilyea — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:43:06 GMT

I jus clicked on the free credit report that is advertised no social security # and no credit card. It ask for both so I deleted my application.

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

JellyCity — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:08:55 GMT

Oh yeah, another one I thought of. I used to sell Avon. I didn't have too many customers, so I didn't earn too much money from it (earnings were based on a percentage of your total sales. The higher your total sales, the larger your earnings percentage.) Some girls at work wanted me to bring in some brochures and wanted some samples of lipsticks, cologne, or something. I have to pay for the brochures and any samples I give out, even though I can't charge for the samples. Then they would turn around and buy the things from someone else who sold Avon! Then one time they said they bought from the other person because they always gave a 25%discount on everything, and wondered why I didn't do the same. When I told them that most of my orders aren't big enough to earn 25% for myself, let alone pass that along to customers. Yet they still wanted me to bring them the samples and brochures. I told them if they were going to order from the other person anyway, they should just ask her for the free samples and brochures. They seemed pretty ticked off about that! LOL

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

JellyCity — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:00:49 GMT

A friend of mine works at a fast-food restaurant and said customers are always trying to get something for nothing, try to make substitutions for things they have coupons for, etc. He said a customer came in one day, ordered his food, then sat down in the dining room to eat. After he had eaten all his food, he came back to the counter wanting his money back, stating, "You didn't give me what I had ordered." Sheesh!

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

cal — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:25:49 GMT

In 2008 as an advertising method I gave pens to several stores I prepare taxes for. I went through all 5000 in 3 weeks and gained 1 new client. For the 2009 tax season I ask the stores to ask for a 25 cent donation (pens are really nice ones with ink and highlighters) that would be given to a local scholarship. 3 pens were taken. Greed is alive and well

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

The Truth — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:05:36 GMT

When someone or a company gives away free stuff they are doing one of or a combination of three things: 1. actually being nice and giving back to the community, 2. promoting something, 3. getting good pr. Whatever the reason is they are doing something that they do not have to, no one is obligated to give away anything.

On the other end we see two types of people: 1. the ones that appreciate the free thing and take only what was intended for them to take and 2. the greedy pieces of crap that are only slightly removed from animals.

The real person comes out when offered free things. Are you civilized or are you scavenging animal?

re: Free stuff brings out the greed in us

Redd the Sock — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:58:38 GMT

A friend of mine runs a comic shopo, but he didn't take part in the recent "free comic book day" largely for this reason. Bad enough he had to pay out of pocket for those "free" comics, but the first year he tried it he had similar scrambles and people trying to take the whole box of "free" comics only to never see them spend any real money. Later when he tried limiting the number of freebies you could have, all he got was a lot of anger.

Sadly, I call this a learned behaviour. We see so many rich people that can't really defend how they make their money (in a pay as a function of effort sense), but say they earned it simply because they got someone to give it to them. It's only natural that that behaviour would get the idea that if it's offered it should be taken as much as possible.