Donuts this week
courtesy of Shubhajit Mitra. As he particularly mentioned Memorial Day, and the
importance of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the
United States’ armed forces, here’s a story about soldiers and donuts, courtesy
of NPR. If you feel particularly inspired by the story, you can support NPR here, and the
American Red Cross here.
The story starts when Russ
Roberts, a George Mason University economist, started hearing about how
veterans don't like the Red Cross. That struck him as odd, and when he asked
about it, he always got the same answer: the doughnuts.
"And
I thought, the doughnuts?" Roberts says. "What could that be?"
Go to
any VFW hall, even today, and you'll get the same story: During World War II,
the Red Cross had comfort stations for soldiers overseas, with free coffee and
free doughnuts. Then, in 1942, the Red Cross started charging for the
doughnuts. Soldiers have held a grudge ever since.
Turns
out it's true.
"It
keeps coming up, that they were charged for coffee and doughnuts," says
Susan Watson, archivist for the Red Cross.
The
organization started charging only because the U.S. Secretary of War asked it
to. British soldiers had to pay for their snacks, and the free doughnuts for
Americans were causing tensions. So the Red Cross complied, after protesting to
no avail. It didn't last long — for most of the last 70 years, Red Cross
doughnuts have remained free — but veterans haven't forgotten.
Chalk
it up to something called categorical change, says Uri Simonsohn, a University
of Pennsylvania business professor. Price changes, people can adjust to. But
this was different.
"Imagine,
for Thanksgiving, you go to your parents' for dinner and after a nice dinner
they say, 'That's going to be $10 per person,' " Simonsohn says. "You
would be upset."
The
problem isn't the price — $10 for a good turkey dinner might not be such a bad
deal — but that you're being charged in the first place. It changes the
relationship. For the veterans, the Red Cross went from being a little like
Mom, to being the corner store.
So
for all the Internet companies out there looking to charge for your service —
take heed. Changing categories is really difficult.
