Fun Time: What’s Free Today May Not Be Free Tomorrow
I don’t know about you, but I love things that are free. That’s why I signed up for a Yahoo Mail account more than two decades ago. It was FREE. They even gave me 1 TB of free storage space. I had no idea what “TB” meant, but I did a quick search and came across a website that said: “Got TB? See a doctor immediately.”
My doctor wasn’t much help though. She said she couldn’t vouch for Yahoo Mail, but to check back with her if my email caused me to cough. “Watch out for any chest pain too,” she said. Well, I didn’t have any chest pain until recently, when I received an email from Yahoo that said: “Dear Member, the Yahoo Mail free storage is now 20 GB, and your mailbox is currently over that limit. Don’t worry—we offer additional plans with extra space for emails and attachments, along with smarter tools and flexible options to help you manage everything easily.”
That’s a nice way of saying “We just shrunk your free storage space by 98 percent, sucker!”
Apparently I’m now 12 GB over the limit and if I don’t do a lot of deleting within a couple of weeks, my sending and receiving privileges will be suspended. Yahoo Mail says that they’ve “introduced new flexible plans” to enable me to easily expand my inbox. These plans include the 100 GB plan for $2.79 per month and the 1 TB plan for $13.99 per month.
I consulted my doctor and she says that $13.99 per month for a TB plan isn’t bad at all. But I’ve been so used to free email that the idea of paying for it gives me chest pains. What was free before will now cost me one pizza per month! (Translating a cost to food helps put it in perspective for me, as I explained to a car salesman recently when I said, “Do you really think I’m going to pay 100 pizzas for your extended warranty?”)
Paying for things that used to be free is something we all have to get used to. After all, companies are just not making enough money. Just the other day, I heard about a CEO who had to share a hotel room in Boston with his HR director. The belt-tightening is happening in the public sphere as well, thanks to rising costs and reductions in government funding. Public entities are scrambling to stay afloat. Don’t be surprised if sometime in the near future, you receive letters or emails similar to these:
From your local library: “Dear patron, as you know, our costs have increased considerably over the last few years, and our current funding just isn’t sufficient anymore. Therefore, beginning next month, we will be introducing three new membership tiers in addition to free membership. For just $2.99 per month, you will get priority seating at all book discussions. For just $3.99 per month, you will get priority notification (text and email) whenever we receive a new Nora Roberts novel. For just $4.99 per month, you will get priority borrowing privileges, allowing you to take home not just books, magazines and DVDs, but one of the librarians.”
From your child’s teacher: “Dear parents, as you know, teacher salaries have not kept up with inflation and many of us can barely afford to pay for necessities. In order for me to continue working in this profession, I am asking parents to support me by buying one item each month from my online store. Just one item. Whatever you can afford is fine. Don’t worry: each child will receive the same amount of instruction, whether their parents buy a $10 coffee mug or a $1,000 test answer booklet.”
More of ChaiTime here:
http://www.khabar.com/magazine/chaitime/
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
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