FREE ... FREE ... FREE !!! - Is that really Free ?

How many of you folks belive the tag "FREE" that we normally see when we buy some products ? "Buy 1, Get 2 Free" and its a typical human mentality that if we see the word "FREE" we tend to bounce on it, and the funny thing is, we will not be happy with the main product we have purchased, but will be happy to have the FREE stuff attached with that. Some FREE attachments are really funny ...

1. Toung Cleaner for a Tooth Brush - Then why the hell i need that brush ?
2. Matchbox with that X Soap" (Naa enna THEE kulika poraenaa ? Soap vaangarachae edhuku daa match box ???)
3. Agarbathi's with every Vermi"Silly" Semiya - Since semiya and Agarbathi are thin, they should have got this idea.
4. Batteries with every "Washing Powder" - I think they would have thought that my washing machine runs with 2 AA batteries.
5. Ever silver bowl for anything and everything, probably thats one thing in this country which is by default given for FREE, if you dont find anything else.

Actually whatever that has been tagged FREE is not exactly FREE, take it from me, nothing in this world comes for FREE. I actually did a detailed research on this concept and when i happen to meet one of the senior person from a marketing agency, he happened to break this JINX and explained me in detail of what exactly is happening at the background when they attach the tag FREE on to it.

Let's say a product is priced at a minimum rate of Rs 5/- and for that they may give you any damn thing as FREE, in such a case you can be rest assured that the production cost of that FREE product will not be more than 0.35 paise (yeah, its true), if i say production cost, its inclusive of everything, manufacturing, packing, sealing, distributing etc etc. The next knot is, the parent company which offer this FREE stuff will be having a tie-up with the company which is actually manufacturing that "FREE" product, both ofg them sit together and then work out a business mathematics and you know what is the business deal they have ?. The FREE product manufacturer will be paying a royalty to the the parent product manufacturer which inturn is being adjusted in the overall profit of his product, that's it, and this is the bottomline. This situation is a WIN-WIN situation for both the companies.

Ok you can now ask what i am losing in that ? good question, so let me explain you that we are the ultimate losers. Ok you buy a X product for Rs 5/- and you are getting a FREE (so called) product along with that say Y, lets not get into the technical detalis like what could be the production cost for that FREE product. You have been purchasing this product of years which is priced at Rs 5/- and now even after giving some Y as FREE, then also you are paying Rs 5/- so we as consumers will look only from that angle, but actually the X product company is already making profit with this Rs 5/- and adding on to that he is getting royalty from the Y product company and adding on to that he gets a TAX rebate for the royalty he gets from the Y product company. Finally you will be the one who has to pay the TAXES for that product, but most marketing ppl include those taxes within the price and show it as "Inclusive of all Taxes", but eventually we are paying their taxes.

Ultimately you and I are the only people who meticulously pay TAXEs to our govenrment for every Re 1/- we earn, so its nothing other than our hard earned money which is being spent just by blinding our eyes with the keyword FREE.

Last week i happened to go to a departmental store where there was a big chaos near the billing counter where a customer was screaming on top of his throat arguing that the shop has not given the FREE product which was printed on top of the package, but the shop owner was trying to convince him that there is no such FREE product attached to that, and later i went and checked in to see that he has purchased a "Sundrop Sunflower Oil" and it has printed "Cholestrol FREE" on its top, and he wants that FREE Cholestrol ;-)