There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

While I was looking through one of my fathers locksmith magazines, I found an advertisement for a “free credit card transmitter”. While most ads that offer something for free are for something minor and typically cheap – this add offered an expensive product for free. I was skeptical so I called the number that was on the advertisement and on the fourth time of calling I was answered by a company receptionist. When I asked her what the terms were for the deal, she responded simply with, “There are no terms; it’s just a free transmitter.” She went on to say that there was a $345 dollar activation fee as well as a fifty dollar fee per month with a two year usage contract. I managed to get through to a receptionist the next day, and it happened to be a different woman. I did not mention the advertisement this time and just asked about opening an account for a credit card transmitter. She said that the transmitter was sixty dollars and the activation fee was $285. I would be required to open a two year contract at fifty dollars per month. The answers that I was given though the company regarding their “Free credit card transmitter offer” provided me with information enough to conclude though my own tests that there truly is “no such thing as a free lunch.” The overall price that it would cost me to do the deal that was offered through the advertisement came to the exact same price that I would pay if I called and tried to set an account up with company without mentioning the advertisement. When I got onto the internet and through a search engine looked up alternative companies that offered the same service, I found that most of the other companies were cheaper overall than this company. This could be contributed to many things, one possibility could be that the company charged more so that they could pay for the advertisement that they had placed in the magazine. Looking at the Benefit-cost analysis of getting this transmitter that is advertised in the