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The Cost of Free Doughnuts

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Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#11
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think that the American troops were that much smarter than the average American?

Do you really think the average American would fall for that trick?

Yes. I'm sure milesokeefe suggested it because discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases.

(And I'm not sure I'd say that trying to evade cognitive biases is a "trick", really.)

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#13
post #6

I certainly see the point they are trying to convey, but this is a bad analogy. The Red Cross receives funding through donations and/or government subsidies. The donuts really are not their core product, if anything they would be more akin to a retail 'loss leader'. The average web startup only has one core product, at least it gets to the Facebook scale of having thread its way into multiple aspects of your life. Th…

> I think the bulk of the users understand the company has to make money somehow.

Understanding and caring are two completely different things.

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think the average American would fall for that trick?

Yes. I'm sure milesokeefe suggested it because discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases. (And I'm not sure I'd say that trying to evade cognitive biases is a "trick", really.)

"discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases."

Would you provide a few examples, please? Thanks.

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#15
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I'm sure milesokeefe suggested it because discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases. (And I'm not sure I'd say that trying to evade cognitive biases is a "trick", really.)

"discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases." Would you provide a few examples, please? Thanks.

Apple rebranding iTools to .Mac.

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I'm sure milesokeefe suggested it because discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases. (And I'm not sure I'd say that trying to evade cognitive biases is a "trick", really.)

"discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases." Would you provide a few examples, please? Thanks.

The McRib, everything in the Disney Vault.

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#17
This reminded me a lot of what happened to Netflix last year when they spun off the streaming service into its own $8/month product. Existing customers who were already receiving it for "free" were totally livid, despite the fact that people in Canada, who didn't have the DVD service, and could only buy the $8 streaming service had no problem at all.

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#18
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I'm sure milesokeefe suggested it because discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases. (And I'm not sure I'd say that trying to evade cognitive biases is a "trick", really.)

"discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases." Would you provide a few examples, please? Thanks.

.me -> iCloud (Although that one was in reverse, pay -> free-ish)

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think the average American would fall for that trick?

Yes. I'm sure milesokeefe suggested it because discontinuing a product and then relaunching it is standard practice for companies which want to get rid of anchoring biases. (And I'm not sure I'd say that trying to evade cognitive biases is a "trick", really.)

I think it's quite different for a service, particularly if it is currently in use. See: Quickster.

Re: The Cost of Free Doughnuts

#20
Well, I'm not sure if my emotional attachment to Google is comparable to that of wartime soldiers to free doughnuts. What's left is the fact that a free service is very different from a paid service, and that pulling the rug under your customers is going to leave them very disgruntled. I am not sure this is a novel insight. I guess the historical analogy is still neat.
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