[chimeracoder]

Predictably Irrational covers the case of an Israeli day care center, though it's actually a slightly different story - in that case, the parents felt an implicit moral duty not to pick their kids up late, which vanished once the cost was quantified (in terms of a 'late pickup fee'), causing more parents to pick up their kids late, even though it was technically free before.

More importantly, when the fee was removed again, parents continued late pickups at the higher (with-fee) rate. That's the real point of both stories - once the terms of the agreement have been moved from the social to the monetary realm, it's very hard to get people's brains to switch back to the social terms.

[einhverfr]

yeah, quantifying the costs says "It's fine, as long as you pay extra." If it's $10/hr extra, hey, that's an extra hour of day care for $10.....

Then when you remove the price you are sending another signal, which is "oh it used to cost money but now we offer this for free!

It's worth really thinking through the whole social signal thing first....

with the Red Cross, one option might have been a donation box right next to the donuts with a note saying what they had been asked to do and why.... and soliciting additional donations, to be used to provide donuts to the British soldiers, perhaps! That avoids changing the relationship.....