Freebies at Last!
If Denny’s Free Grand Slam Day is any indicator, freebies are back in a big way.
Lines were reportedly long for today’s breakfast promotion, which was announced during Sunday’s Superbowl. Denny’s spokesperson, Cori Rice, told the Associated Press that the company expected over 2 million people to take advantage of the dine in-only, tip-not-included deal, with over one hundred Grand Slams to be churned out per hour.
As someone who has waitressed during an insanely busy breakfast rush, yikes.
At 795 calories per Slam, that’s an estimated 1.6 billion calories added to the American waistline. But that wasn’t the only fattening freebie on the table today. Participating Dunkin’ Donuts franchises offered Phoenix residents a free donut with beverage purchase as a consolation prize for the Cardinal’s loss.
Then there were all the free promotions on Election Day. Ben & Jerry’s offered a free scoop of ice cream. Krispy Kreme gave away donuts. Starbucks gave away coffee, although there were concerns that the promotion violated election laws. Shane’s Rib Shack gave away chicken tenders and French fries.
As far as I know, no one gave away antacid.
This is not a good time to be a restaurant. The National Restaurant Association expects industry sales to decline for a second, consecutive year. Denny’s sales declined during the third quarter, while Starbucks, which showed us that customers will pay more for coffee, despite previous reservations, has been forced to layoff workers and shutter stores. This may delight some of the many Starbucks haters, but considering that the restaurant industry employs nine per cent of the American workforce, getting this opportunity to laugh while the company is down seems in poor taste.
Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, devoted an entire chapter to the emotional reaction towards freebies. In one experiment, a friend of his sold a product three ways 1) The product was five dollars, but the shipping was free. 2) Both the product and the shipping cost $2.50 each. 3)The product was FREE, but the shipping cost five dollars. Each scenario still guaranteed the customer would pay five dollars, but the overwhelming majority went for the free product with the five dollar shipping. “Something about free – just the idea that something has no negative side, it only has an upside – creates an emotional reaction in us and makes us value it more,” the professor said in a Duke University podcast.
The long lines for the Grand Slam giveaway seem to suggest that freebies put asses in seats, which is weird because the Grand Slam usually doesn’t cost all that much anyway.
Hopefully, the customers at Denny’s tipped well, or at least tipped at all. Whoever came up with the percentage-as-tip rule should apologize to every server who has had to bear the indignity of watching a guest pull out his cell phone to calculate a ten per cent tip on a five dollar meal.
