Why do people not value free stuff? Share your thoughts!

As humans do we just not appreciate free? If there is free beer nobody values it long term. If there is a free seminar nobody values it. Only when we have to pay do we value and want things. Can someone explain this to me?

 

We value free things, but not in the same way. We value air and the sun, but since we don't have to work or fight for it, then it only has value in the here and now. There is no wealth (stored value) attached to air like there is to gold.

 

It's quite simple.

Things you have put effort and care into you value more. Things you had to earn are far more valuable to you than things you were given (unless those items hold some kind of sentimental value).

If you spent the time designing and building your own house, for example, you're far more bonded to it than if someone gave you a house.

If you had to save up a year to buy a car, you're far more attached to it than if you won the same car in some contest.

 

Because you did not do anything to earn it. There has been no exchange and thus the value of the free good is 0.

 

Maybe we've been indoctrinated into thinking there is only a monetary value.
Nothing is free. There is always a cost and someone pays it.
Eg pro bono lawyers. The clients who pay the large fees subsidise the other people who can't, and the tax system helps with tax benefits.
If something doesn't have a dollar value that can mean no one else wants it and why should we?
Everyone can have free things but that is for the herd. Not everyone can have stuff that has to be paid for.

 

Very true, much like earning your citizenship, rather than having it given to you.

 

I disagree with the entire premise,people do value free stuff.Why do people bet on horses or gamble in general buy lottery tckets etc???They want to make a killing by investing little to nothing.Go outside with an enclosed cart on a very hot day with a sign that say's FREE ICE CREAM,you will quickly draw a crowd who will not be too happy when they find out you were BSing them!!Good Luck!!

 

What percentage of lottery winners go bankrupt within 3 to 5 years of winning.

 

That is because they never learned the value of money on that particular scale. You build up to it. As a kid, I got 2 dollars a week allowance. My first allowance, I blew it all on candy and comic books. Then I was broke for the rest of the week. Second week, I was like... hmm... having money in my pocket does feel nicer than not having money in my pocket, so I only blew a dollar on comic books and candy. By the end of the first year, I had a pretty nice nest egg for a ten year old kid.

If I gave you a million dollars, you'd probably blow at least half on booze and hookers. If I gave a million dollars to somebody who already has 100 mill in the bank, he's going to put that mill in with the rest and go on about his life just as before.

I did the same thing when I first started making decent money. I felt like I was rich, so why the hell not? You ever see those overnight bazillionaires who have entourages and throw money around like it was nothing? They do that because they're discovering what it's like to NOT worry about how they're going to pay the rent. It's a freedom that takes time to adjust to. After awhile, your entourage is reduced to a wife and a few kids, and you start adjusting to thinking of money as a very useful tool.

 

I agree there are some scale issues, i.e buying things you have always wanted. However, I'd be willing to bet the same people who are bankrupt after winning the lottery are the types of people who have always been bad with money.

Outside of financial disasters, people who are poor are poor because they are poor decision makers with little self control over their impulses.

While I might be tempted to buy a larger house, or put a mermaid in the living room, I would not spend until I was broke, or even 25% of the way through my winnings.

 

Wanna bet? Ask the people from a certain NE Asian culture if they value free stuff. While they're stockpiling paper napkins and ketchup sachets at the Golden Arches, every time they go in for a free 'seniors' coffee refill. Or when they're tapping illegally into the power grid via the pole up the street. Or when they steal cuttings from other peoples' gardens, late at night.

 

And it's patently untrue that free stuff doesn't translate to a market or dollar value. It can and does. I've found very valuable antiques on the side of the road, and at refuse centres. I've constructed buildings from salvaged (free) materials. Every time the aforementioned NE Asians grab a bag full of ketchup and napkins, they SAVE several dollars at the supermarket.

 

I don't think there are many rich people who buy lottery tickets. People who do that usually do it because of 'the dream'. What are you going to do if you woke up a millionaire? Millionaires are fairly used to waking up to that reality.

Think of it as finding a 10 dollar bill on the sidewalk. What are you going to do with it? Put it in your pocket to go with the other money you have, or are you going to go shopping? If you put it in your pocket, is there something magical about that money that is different from the money you already had? Is it worth less because you found it?

Some people would argue that it is worth less because you didn't have to work for it, but I just never could see the logic in that. Sure, it's ten bucks I didn't work for, but it's still ten bucks.

 

Exactly.

People who tend to spend what little money they have on lottery tickets are not the best decision makers.

Probably explains why 70% of them burn through every dollar in a few years.

Who's more likely to spend all their lottery winnings: your average EBT recipient or someone who has a nice higher end middle class income?

People who have things and worked to get where they are are responsible, logical people for the most part. There are exceptions of course.

People who have nothing tend to be poor decision makers that waste their money regardless if it's $50 or $50 million dollars. Again, there are exceptions that make the rule.

 

I live in a rural area. Instead of giving to a charity, we put our discards at roadside so folks in need can have them. My neighbor put a well used but fully functional lawn mower by the road and it sat there for week. Then he decided to put a sign on it "$100.00." It wasn't there the next morning. I give up.

 

Now that is interesting.

 

The 100 dollar sign took the generosity factor out of it. You're going to find lots of communists who see a difference between somebody who is doing something to help those in need to those who are doing something for profit.

We see that all the time. Communists despise capitalists, and their very ideology puts them at odds with people who think that there is value in private property to the point that they want a bloody revolution that involves lots of body bags. Your neighbor's lawn mower was "stolen" because he showed a communist the cut of his jib.

Yes, I can easily understand why you would be completely nonplussed when it came to the difference between a free lawn mower and a lawn mower that is valued at 100 bucks. Commies do stick with their own kind, and they hate capitalists with a passion that allows them to kill and then sleep like babies. Stealing a lawn mower from a capitalist is moral to them.

 

When I first separated from the Navy I took a job repairing and maintaining what was basically a 60 unit 'Section 8' apartment complex.

Oh my goodness.

no, seriously, OH MY F**KING GOD.

I lasted about four months. most depressing, gross, sickening job I've ever had. and I've fished dead bodies out of Mayport Naval Station's harbor.

To give you a little taste, a profoundly obese tenant sat or dropped something on the toilet and shattered it, but instead of immediately reporting it to the owner, she 'used' the bathtub. For about a month, we estimated. Had the neighbors not complained about the mysterious stench, who knows how 'full' her tub would have gotten. I told the owner to call a bio-hazard cleanup company, because, yeah.....no sir.

 

You think a communist stole the lawn mower?

 

What is the difference between widget A being offered for free, and widget A being offered for sale?

 

Never look a gift horse in the mouth!!!

 

Now that is interesting.

 

lol. wow

 

Why did it have to be a communist?
Could have been a lawn mower dealer who needed to come back with a trailer?