📘 Part 3: Receiving things for free

This episode's vocabulary

Exorbitant (adj.) - exorbitant prices, demands, etc. are much too large.

Demand (noun) - to ask for something forcefully, in a way that shows that you do not expect to be refused.

To diversify (verb) -to start to include more different types or things.

To dilute (verb) - to reduce the strength of a feeling, action, etc.

Potential (adj.) - possible when the necessary conditions exist.

To seal (verb) - to make an agreement more certain or to approve it formally.

Deal (noun) - an agreement or an arrangement, especially in business.

Sample (noun) - a small amount of something that shows you what the rest is or should be like.

Tat (noun) - a small amount of something that shows you what the rest is or should be like.

Legality (noun) - the fact that something is allowed by the law.

Valuable (adj.) - worth a lot of money; important, useful, or beneficial.

Commonplace (adj.) - happening often or often seen or experienced and so not considered to be special.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready?

R: Yes.

M: Good. Do you think people should pay for higher education?

R: I do. But I don't think it should be such an exorbitant demand anymore, to be honest. The internet has done a lot to open up the educational market and leveled the playing field. Nonetheless, if someone is going to work for you and provide a service, then you should pay for it. I'm just not sure it should be hundreds or even 10s of 1000s of pounds in debt.

M: Is it good or bad for people to have a free education in the future?

R: Oh, I think it will be like any government, or social policy, or program, or trend. There'll be winners and losers. So on the one hand, everyone has the chance to get an education. But on the other, that dilutes the value of what is on offer. And so things like funding become an issue. Plus, there are class sizes to consider, although admittedly, we have free education in Scotland and it seems to be working reasonably well.

M: What gifts or free things to companies usually give to their clients?

R: Pens? They always seem to have an endless supply of free pens. I'm not sure where they get them, but they always have them. And they're always horrible quality. There's always this meme of getting a free alarm clock to I'm not sure how much of a thing that is these days, but it was the thing. And I suppose no companies have diversified their free gifts into sort of diluted versions of whatever product or service they offer.

M: Why do companies give away free things?

R: I suppose the idea is to lure in potential customers so they can seal the deal more easily. If you get a small sample of something you like, then you're more likely to buy the whole thing, aren't you?

M: But do you think companies usually give away free things?

R: Oh, I don't know how you would begin to measure that. My guess would be they have some aspect of free things to begin with at least.

M: Why do customers like to receive gifts from companies?

R: I'm not entirely convinced they do if it's sort of useless tat. But let's say they do, it's probably because they have this fear of missing out on something that's on offer. That's usually how companies work, or at least it's how their marketing works.

M: Do you think in the future, we'll have more free things? Or people will have to buy everything?

R: That's a good question. I suppose it will depend on the supply and demand. So for example, there's a massive supply of people who are working in education now. So there's lots of free education. However, if we think about water, then water supplies are drying up of your part in the pond. So you would expect that to be something that's bought and paid for.

M: What about free music and free websites or films? Will they be free or people will have to pay?

R: That probably depends on the purpose. And again, it's about supply and demand. So if we talk about music, then, well, you can already download music for free. Although that has questionable legality. And the same thing for websites, if something that they're offering is valuable, then people will pay to get it if it's not particularly valuable, or if it's quite commonplace, then they won't.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

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