Invisible wrote:

> Wow, thanks T-Mobile. So if I give you loads of my money, you'll give me 
> a little something to say thank you?
> 
> ...alternatively, how about I just ignore you're generous offer 
> completely? :-P

Hmm, yes... Just recently T-Mobile seem to have sent me quite a few text 
messages about various "hey, if you spent a certain amount of money in a 
certain way, we'll give you some free stuff that you can only use under 
certain conditions" type of offers.


There's some interesting psychology in there. I mean, like, "buy 1, get 
one free". Sounds great, right?

So how about "buy 1, pay for 2 even though you only bought 1". Suddenly 
it doesn't sound so great, does it? :-P All they're really doing is 
doubling the marked price of the individual item.

Some poor saps will buy just one, and get stung for the cost of 2 even 
though they only bought one. And everybody else will buy 2, and pay the 
normal price for them anyway. And the shop gets to crow about how their 
"brilliant offers" save you money. <insert cynical remarks about the 
manipulation of the population here>

Apparently it's a well-known fact that whether something is presented as 
a cost or a discount has a large effect on consumer behaviour. If you 
say "buy 10 and get a 10% discount", people think that's great. If you 
say "buy less than 10 and get a 10% surcharge" it's not so great. 
(Glossing over the small fact that the two 10% values are percentages of 
different numbers...)

Post a reply to this message