Paid gifts

The other day, a robocall asked me if I knew how much Python developers make.

I do 😅

But the robot kept going anyway, explaining how great it is to “get into tech” and how easy it is to earn hundreds of thousands of currency units per nanosecond.

At the end, the robot added the most important part: I was eligible for English lessons as a gift.

Now that was interesting!

I got connected to an operator and learned one small detail: to get this “gift,” I had to buy a course.

So I objected: “If I have to buy something to get the gift, then it’s not a gift. It’s part of the commercial offer.”

There’s an old internet story along the same lines. Support for some mobile operator supposedly told a customer: “When you pay for the plan, you get 300 minutes as a gift.” The customer replied: “That’s not a gift. I’m paying for a plan with 300 minutes.” And the operator said: “Well, if you look at it that way, then yes.”

I sometimes think marketers don’t hear how their own offers sound.

Soon we’ll see grocery store promotions like: “Pay money and get a loaf of bread as a gift” 😅

The takeaway is simple: if you have to buy or pay for something to receive a gift, it’s not a gift. It’s part of the product, already included in the price.