Ask Asa: Sometimes there really is a free lunch

March 17, 2008

For years, consumer advocates have warned that there is no free lunch. But that standing advice may be changing.An increasing number of products and services are available to consumers at no cost.

Free lunch may be a reality, after all - along with free breakfast, credit reports, phone service and a host of other goods and services.

Reinier Evers, founder of trendwatching.com, an Amsterdam-based firm that tracks consumer trends, insights and ideas worldwide, calls it "Free Love." Unlike the stuff of the same name popularized in the 1960s, this free love isn't personal. It's commercial - a term used to describe the growing amount of free, valuable stuff that's available to consumers both online and offline.

Evers credits decreasing costs of production, the avalanche of free content on the Internet, marketplaces that encourage consumers to swap instead of spend and an emerging recycling culture. More than anything, it's about the desire of manufacturers and retailers to attract consumer attention.

Advertisers are using handouts, samples and free services to lure oversaturated consumers, in the hope of winning long-term customers. Rather than spend as much as $2 for directory assistance, for instance, consumers can dial (800) FREE-411, listen to a 10-second ad and get the number of their choice free of charge.

Just recently, Jingle Networks, the operator of (800) FREE411, partnered with Dial Directions to combine free 411 with free voice-activated driving directions. So in addition to phone numbers, callers can ask for directions to any directory listing and receive them via text message.

It's available now in the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago and Los Angeles, and should be available nationwide within a month.

What else can you get?

# Talkster (talkster.com) provides free, advertising-supported long distance, international and conference calls.

# Brooklyn-based adNav (www.adNavinc.com) offers an ad-supported mobile GPS application with restaurant and city guides, weather, currency exchange calculators and mobile Internet access. Hotels, airlines and car rental agencies offer the Boomerang as an amenity for travelers.

 

 

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