Why giveaways are a bad idea
By Gordon Hecht, YSN Contributor
Forget about the 1 percenters. For Christmas 2024, me and my ever-lovin’ bride decided to join the 17 percenters. That is, the 17% of Americans who purchase and display a real live Christmas tree.
In 2003 we purchased one of those fake pre-lit evergreens from a French department store known as Tar-jay. But a couple of decades of packing and unpacking has caused most of the tree’s lights to remain dark. And those plastic jobbies lose pine needles too.
Yet the old fake tree still looked OK. We thought we might share it with another family. Or someone for whom a Christmas tree was beyond their budget.
Social Studies
In our personal lives, just as in business, the quickest way to get the word out is via that worldwide inter-webby thing. So I hopped on Craigslist and Nextdoor, offering our 6-foot green decoration for free. A complete ad, with photos of the tree in and out of the carton. And a disclosure that it was “as is.”
Within an hour I got multiple requests from people wanting us to “hold” it until they could get to our home. I could have set it out on the entryway but didn’t want our nosey Ring doorbell neighbors to think we had porch pirates. We agreed to hold it for the first person who replied to our post. For two hours.
Alas, they were a no-show.
We repeated this process multiple times. Each time we were assured that they would pick up the tree. Only to have more no-shows. It kinda seemed like prom night to me.
Frustrated, I removed the post. Then I posted a new offer. Same tree. Same photos. One change: the price went from free to $5. Cash only.
I got three replies in 2 hours. Within 3 hours the tree was gone and I had five simoleons in my formerly empty palm.
The Fundamental Things Apply
Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Nextdoor: They are all retail, just on a smaller scale. In light of my Christmas tree caper, here are three rules that apply to retail, whether large or small:
- Anything that is free has no value to the customer/receiver.
- When someone gets something for nothing, someone else gets nothing for something.
- You need to earn 10 retail dollars for every operational dollar you lose or give away.
Sure, I once heard that free is the strongest word in adverting. I know that great advertising in the right venue can bring footsteps into your shop. But not everything has to be free.
This is the reality of Retail 2025. You will see fewer shoppers. Your store is being vetted on the web. Closing/conversion rates will be higher. People who do walk into your store already have a notion of what they want. Most are pre-sold before they pull into your parking lot. Stores that raise margins and average ticket will be the winners this year.
Freedumb
Stores that offer free delivery are giving away $40-$100 in operational dollars. You’ll need to make another $400-$1,000 retail sale to make up for that giveaway.
Tack on the free accessories, like pillows, mattress protectors, pigtails, icemaker lines. That costs you $20 to $50 or more.
Then there’s old product removal. Some appliances can be cleaned, fixed and resold. Mattresses and furniture are a total loss. In either case, you have labor and storage costs.
Beyond the cost and loss, there is a no respect factor for free merchandise or service. Give a shopper a free delivery and there’s more reason for a not-at-home missed stop. Charge that same shopper $19 and they will be ready with the space cleared.
Give away a free pair of pillows. Then your customer cancels their order. There is no incentive for them to return your freebies. Discount those pillows to $19 and you’ll get them back. Or, at a minimum, ring the register for $38.
Here’s how to put a few more bucks in the sock drawer in 2025:
- Change your “Free delivery!” promos to “In-home delivery – just $19.95.” Virtually every shopper will pay the double sawbuck. They will be home to accept your merchandise, and you will cover the fuel cost per stop.
- Change your free merchandise offers to highly discounted offers. Assemble inventory of pillows, protectors, sheet sets, lamps or dishwasher/laundry detergent. Got something that looks like it can have a $100 price tag? Promo it at $19.95-$29.95 with a big-ticket purchase. Use it to close the deal. You’ll collect some extra dough. As a bonus, it’s easier to upgrade a shopper from a $19.95 pillow to a $70 pillow than it is from free to $19.95!
- Same with disposal or removal costs. Many shoppers know that it’s near impossible to donate a used mattress these days. They don’t want their battle-scarred mattress set out on the street for all the neighbors to see. Phrased right, you should be able to recoup some or all of your costs for removal. Twenty dollars for sure. Never for free.
I hope the family that adopted our Genuine Artificial Tar-jay Christmas Tree enjoys it for years to come.
For us, having a real live tree added something to our holiday. But I will often think fondly of the old faux fir — especially when I’m sweeping pine needles off the living room floor.

Gordon Hecht is a consultant to the home furnishings trade with over four decades in retail and manufacturing and more than 500 industry newsletters and articles under his belt. His award-winning experience includes tenured time with Ashley Furniture Industries and Serta Simmons Bedding, with progressive responsibility for large and small retailers. Contact him at gordon.hecht@aol.com.