Abuse of the word "free"

Steven vine posted " And what is it with this £1.99, £2.99 malarkey. " The .99 ( it used to be !/2d ) was so that the cashier had to open the cash register to give change So they couldn't just pocket your cash

Roy

Not when I lived there (last year). Was the same price in dollars as pounds ie $1.30-1.40 per litre. But that still makes it half price now that the dollar has gone from $1.60 to $2.00 to the pound since we left. That means you can run a 3.5 litre SUV for the same cost as a 2 litre car here, which we did of course.....

Edited By Muzzer on 01/02/2016 17:21:09

Dunno where that number comes from, Kwil. Certainly not around here (Southern Ontario which is pretty much average for Canada).

These prices are the cheapest we've had in years.

Within the context of this thread it is free as in not being marketed as something I have t pay for. However if the BBC said " buy our TV licence and we throw in Radio as a free extra " then it would be a con in the context of the thread as you are paying for it. Also if it gets funded by my taxes in future then also it ceases to be free.

We have had rather a lot of free wind in Devon in the last few days too. Had to come to work to get 'free' broadband.

Don't put ideas their way! With radio and tv you do actually get something for the licence fee. Whether it is worth the charge is a matter of opinion.

With model radio gear, ditto CB, you got *nothing* for the fee. You paid for your own transmitter and your own receiver, so there never was any justification for making you pay.

Pete

Edited By Spurry on 01/02/2016 18:56:45

Interesting statistic on TV. When video recorders were popular the largest uptake on a household basis was the UK by a large margin. Thought to be down to the fact that we "did" get TV worth recording. All thought to be down to the BBC.Others had to compete.

Having tried to watch Swedish free TV I can see why but then the BBC is cheap really rather than free.

Interesting comment from some American TV person. "Once Brit's went to the USA for ideas for cheap TV, now it's often the other way round"

John

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Free Range eggs? They all seem to be priced...

Does a 'freebie' from a hooker count.?

Nick

I've no idea, Nick - I haven't played rugby since I left school.

George

What about the window firms? you buy one you get one free ie 50% off plus free fitting, what a load of crap you can't sell your product at 1/2 price then fit it free, it's economic suicide UNLESS it's a trumped up price to begin with, also "we'll beat any quote for the same spec product" well of course they can because they'll have a section or fitting to that's exclusive to them, adverts are just a massive con. Insurance for the over 50s? peace of mind?,do they seriously think I'm going to pay out of my pocket every month so my kids can have a bean feast when I croak,I don't think so,they've had plenty out of me allready, my "piece of mind" is not wasting money on insurance so others can have it.

There I've had my moan for the week.

I find a lot of these posts interesting. I reckon I became immune to adverts where ever they were when I was around 15. A few did have an effect. For years now no effect at all. I might notice yet another iPhone has come out but buy another make and model. I'd guess many people are the same but the add industry in all areas is a money go round that could mostly be replaced by a search engine and on line stores.

Some fools pay for space on this site and many others which allows them to exist. Lets hope they never realise that the adds as presented are a waste of money and screen space. They could be replaced by simple links plus a note of what they sell.

John

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I was getting up to 3 cold calls daily and worried about the scammers who are finding new ways to part us from our cash. (mainly the older generation). About 6 months ago, while browsing through my local Tesco store, I came across a BT Guardian phone set and after a bit of on line research bought a system. A bit of a job setting up to establish known contacts in the phone book but so far it has been great. No cold calls at all and as a bonus, the range outside is good, enabling me to keep in touch from the garden or the shed.

Shame on people like Michael Parkinson who probably doesn't need the money, helping to promote this stuff.

I fly free-flight model aircraft.

I can assure you that they are not 'free' or even cheap - but they are fun and a great way to keep fit.

* Danny M *

.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. ............. But he says you do get a FREE ball point pen just for enquiring.!

Nick

Spurry claims that:

With model radio gear, ditto CB, you got *nothing* for the fee.

Well, I don't think that is completely true, either. What you got was a mainly silent frequency band, not cluttered up by people with no more sense than to spend all day driving trucks, microphone in hand...

But I'm sure that wasn't the reason that Her Majesties Government took the money.

Cheers, Tim

Remember, it was a politician who said "When I said safe, I didn't mean safe". But how many of them do say what they mean?

Friends who don't have a TV were HOUNDED by the TV licence people , until they finally came to the house to search for the set, that MUST be there. Only then did they accept that there was no set.

"What very odd people, no TV!"

Winston Churchill said that there were liars, damned liars, and statisticians, he forgot marketing folk and politicians of all shapes and sizes.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay for it!

Howard (Fully paid up cynic)

I read today that people viewing TV without a licence via the Iplayer (presumably other catch-ups as well) are to be stopped from doing so, not heard how this is to be achieved though.

Edited By V8Eng on 03/03/2016 20:43:56

I remember sending the nth licence request back in about 1985 with "I haven't got a bloody telly" written on it in huge letters. They didn't send me any more requests after that.

Neil

As Heinlein has it - TANSTAAFL.