[wodenokoto]

This reminds me of video that went simi viral a decade or so back.

Not sure how much of it was staged, but the creators went to a public place and stood next to some “free hugs”-people and then put up a sign “Premium hugs $1” and apparently collected more hugs to the chargrin of the free-huggers.

[HPsquared]

If it's free, people are suspicious and judge the cost to be something implicit, generally with a higher expected cost than $1. On the other hand if you make the cost explicit, people are more comfortable.

It ties in with the story in Freakonomics about the daycare that started to charge a small "fine" to discourage parents picking up the child late, with the effect that these incidents happened more often. Because the cost went from implicit (shame, etc) to explicit (it's only $10).

[scott_w]

I'd be careful of inferring too much from things like this, particularly given how much criticism Freakonomics has received. One example from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11eTG4_iwqw&pp=ygUVZGVhdGggb...

> If it's free, people are suspicious and judge the cost to be something implicit, generally with a higher expected cost than $1. On the other hand if you make the cost explicit, people are more comfortable.

To address your point explicitly, if someone believes the cost of a hug is higher than $1 ("higher than expected cost"), then offering one for $1 should trigger a similar suspicion in your head.

Think about it, if a stranger offered you a free Porsche, you'd rightly be suspicious. Would you be less suspicious if they offered that same car for $500?

[Nevermark]

I don’t think your example carries over to hugs.

Porsches are worth big money. The “costs” for hugs are more of a social calculation.

I expect that the act of taking a small social good that would not normally be available, or even allowed, but is being offered for free, feels subtly wrong.

“Why would this person give me X for free?” Makes us feel uncomfortable. We feel we are not seeing something, or perhaps freeloading. Which prompts a subconscious threat or status calculation, not a simple cost calculation.

But being able to pay for it suddenly fits a common pattern, even if the “product” (hug or conversation) is novel.

[scott_w]

You're still inferring too much from it. Remember, this was a viral video, so there's also the simple explanation that it might have been staged. If it weren't, there are some really obviously, mundane, reasons that have nothing to do with money. Examples: the people paying saw the people getting free hugs and not getting stabbed, so they were willing to trust the stranger.

[johnnyanmac]

>there's also the simple explanation that it might have been staged.

Well with that mentality this whole conversation is useless. You can't argue any perspective on a faulty premise.

[scott_w]

> Well with that mentality this whole conversation is useless.

Yes, it very well might be. Let’s look at the post I’m replying to:

>> If it's free, people are suspicious and judge the cost to be something implicit, generally with a higher expected cost than $1. On the other hand if you make the cost explicit, people are more comfortable.

That’s some deep psychological explanation for something when the simplest explanation could be “it was staged.” I hate to be cynical but it’s not exactly uncommon in show business!

[johnnyanmac]

I feel in both examples I need more context. Like maybe he $1 hug was from an extremely attractive person. Yes, they will pay for that hug over the free normal or below average hug.

Likewise, "free car" can come from a family or friend. So I might trust it more than a $500 beater that I'd immediately take to shop.

[taneq]

One time my daughter fell (OK she did something silly and jumped) and hit her head on a metal pole at a science center (she's fine, it was just a couple of stitches). My wife took her to the hospital, and (mislead by the confusing signage) accidentally parked in the ambulance parking area directly out front. Later we collected the car and saw a parking ticket. On seeing that the fine was $40, I've immediately joked "oh, OK so premium parking is $40, nice."

Although, given this is in an area where streetside parking can be $20-$30 for a couple of hours...

[wanderingstan]

Counter to Freakononics, my friend’s daycare in SF right now charges parents $2/minute for being late. So it seems to work for them. (Or it works because the cost is relatively high?)

[gizzlon]

Did they get fewer late pickups? Or do they just make more money?

[bell-cot]

Any reason to think their baseline is making money? The arithmetic of daycare - market-minimum hourly pay for the workers, vs. legal minimum per-child staffing levels, vs. tight parental budgets - is damned ruthless.

[johnnyanmac]

Yeah I'm not sure if $2/minute even covers the potential overtime of a caretaker needing to stay later.

[bell-cot]

Unless it's some "Mrs. Smith's In-home Childcare" deal, it ain't a carer staying late at $2/minute - it's randomly keeping a business open, at $120/hour. With (good bet) a mandated-minimum staff of 2+. At SF wages. Plus the extra staff churn that randomly having to stay late causes.

Parents wanting ever-so-forgiving cheap daycare need to move an idle grandma into town.

[p3rls]

Lol, counter to freaknomics, the truth(tm)

[Workaccount2]

I wish this model worked for the internet so we were stuck with the current shitty ad model. Charging money is the fastest way to tank engagement with your content.

[bravesoul2]

Free hugs? Yeah probably going to be churchy!

[sroussey]

Moms giving free hugs at gay pride really brings some tears as some kids get abandoned by their parents.

[guappa]

I've only met them at gay prides… not churchy at all.

[dotBen]

The best way to get rid of junk is not to put it outside your house with “free” on it. It’s to put “$10” on it. Someone will steal it.

[al_borland]

Not in my experience. I put a free item on Craigslist once and it was like a feeding frenzy. The first person who emailed me got it, but between their email and them getting to my house to pick it up, I got at least 40 other emails. It was very overwhelming.

[ryandrake]

Yea, I did the same thing on Craigslist exactly one time before learning my lesson, and got the same feeding frenzy. Now if I want to give something away, I just set it out by the curb with a “free, first come, first serve” note on it, and it’s gone in under 30 minutes.

[bravesoul2]

Ah no. Gumtree free means 10 messages in the next 30 minutes. 1c or higher = ghost town.

[alias_neo]

I experienced the opposite a few years back.

My wife and I were moving city and needed rid of some perfectly functional appliances and furniture.

We listed it all for free because we needed it gone quick and the cost of taking it with us was too high.

When by the next day we'd had one enquiry from someone who didn't turn up, we changed tactic and switched everything to £1.

Within a day the entire lot was gone, people turning up with copper coins from their piggy bank which we told them to keep.

One fond memory of that was a student looking guy who came to the door for the dining table, I opened the door and greeted him, extending my hand for a hand shake, and he looked confused for a couple of seconds, didn't say a word, then reached in his pocket for the money and held it out. Never had anyone misunderstand an invitation for a handshake before or since.

[croisillon]

had a similar experience getting rid of furnitures the owner told me i could dispose of: free brings no eyeballs on it, €10 and people were begging if i could do at €8 :)

[alias_neo]

Haha, my wife says she gets similar when trying to give things away on apps like Vinted etc. List it free and nothing, put it up there for a few quid and people will do their best to get a "deal".

I wonder if it's a UX thing in these apps that the "free" stuff isn't surfacing but low-priced things are. Perhaps there's just too much free stuff to stand out.

[walthamstow]

We get the opposite on FB marketplace. £0 gets you a load of weirdos, scammers and unreliables, £5 gets you mostly normal people who will pick it up when they say they will.

[amenghra]

Lou Wall's comedic musical "Where is bed": https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1jxf2a5/where_is_bed...

[bee_rider]

I get the whole “people are skeptical of free stuff” thing. But, I suspect in this case it is more that people are “in on the joke” for the premium hugs.

[em3rgent0rdr]

Similarly, people think FOSS software must not be as good as proprietary software because it's free.

[ttb-2134]

Hahaha, so true. There's always good and excellent FOSS. Sticking to open source forever :)

[tormeh]

Yeah. Knew a guy who used to say open source is for poor people.

[bravesoul2]

I think the opposite!

[gametorch]

This is also known as "Lamborghini Economics"

Higher price => higher demand, seemingly paradoxically

[KolibriFly]

Funny how slapping a price tag on something can instantly change how people perceive its value

[m463]

Free hugs can be well funded by building biometric profiles.

hmmm.. but would private premium hugs attract unexpected customers/demographics?

[Chris2048]

I'd personally pay to witness the chargrin