The car that came free

A family in Zagazig is given an uncle's old car. He is moving abroad, he wants it to stay in the family, and he will not hear of payment. Free.

Then the year begins. The licence needs renewing and the insurance paying. The tank needs filling twice a week. Something rattles, and the mechanic becomes a regular visitor. There is a running argument with the neighbours about the space outside the building, and most Friday mornings now include at least an hour of looking under the bonnet. Over a few years the free car costs far more than a modest one bought outright would have.

None of that was hidden. It simply was not looked at, because the moment of getting something is the moment we pay attention to, and the moment of getting it was free.

Small businesses make the same trade all the time. A supplier offers a new line and throws in the first carton at no charge. It is free until it needs a shelf that something else was using, a few minutes of explanation to every customer who asks, a phone call to chase the reorder, and in the end a corner of unsold boxes that nobody wants to write off. The carton was free. Carrying it was not.

The price of getting a thing is usually small and always visible. The price of keeping it is large and arrives in instalments, which is why it is so easy to ignore.

The simplest defence is to say the keeping cost out loud before agreeing to anything, while it can still change the answer.