Free Items

My family loves free things and giveaways. We tend to buy products bundled with free items even if we don’t need either of them. Earlier this year, we saw an advertisement of Time Magazine. The ad said that by subscribing for either a year or two, we can avail a Time travelling bag and a Time wristwatch! My dad was drooling for the giveaways. He convinced us to subscribe, saying that by doing so, we could save half the price of the magazine. Each issue costs P120. The one year subscription (with a total of 54 issues) costs P3,132. My dad added that my sister loves reading Time. She would buy it everytime she sees it in the mall. She retorted that we don’t need that much issue and not every issue is interesting for us. Despite our reluctance, we agreed. We purchased the one-year subscription using my dad’s credit card.

Finally, we got the first issue, along with the giveaways. Dad was so happy to get his hands on the treasures. He liked the travelling bag. He said that we could use it in our yearly travels to Hong Kong. He tried to wear the wristwatch, but it made his arm appear smaller. He decided to give it to one of our bigger relatives. So on the first day of receiving the “treasures”, one item had already been disowned. It’s a proof that we tend to get giveaways without thinking whether we need them or not.

Last year in December, we brought the Time travelling bag with us as planned. In a tropical country such as the Philippines, we don’t wear jacket unless during rainy days or inside an air-conditioned establishment. So when we arrive at the airport, we would always put our jackets on only after we got inside the gate (it was very cold in there but hot elsewhere). Before we got into the gate or aboard the plane, we would just hold our bulky jackets along with our travel documents. My dad is always too lazy to hold his own jacket, so he would just let one of us hold his jacket for him. He got the bulkiest jacket among us. With the new Time travelling bag, we could just put all our jackets inside while we drag it around the airport (it has wheels). It was very convenient! Sometimes, we could even squeeze some snacks into the bag. My mom was the happiest. She loves bags. Not the Louis Vuitton bags or other luxury bags, but FREE bags. She loves collecting them all. We had a closet just for her collection.

During the Holy Week in April, my mom decided to bring the Time bag again in our trip to Hong Kong. But for some reasons, my dad refused to bring it. He said it was very inconvenient to drag a bag around the airport. We protested. We complained about his bulky jacket. We end up using another bag – a sports bag. It didn’t have wheels like the Time bag so we had to carry it around the airport. However, without my dad’s knowledge, we had crammed the Time bag inside our luggage. Dad found out about the bag after we opened our luggage in our hotel in Hong Kong. We end up not using the bag at all. It had just travelled with us to and from Hong Kong without serving its purpose. I guess Dad didn’t want the bag anymore.

This month, we received a letter from Time magazine asking us to renew our subscription. Our subscription is only until this month. Again, it’s offering giveaways – a Time foldable travel tote for one-year subscription!  Just like a year ago, my dad was immediately attracted to the free item. He has been convincing us to renew our subscription for the sake of the travel tote. Up to this day, we haven’t decided yet. In case we’re  subscribing again, I have a feeling that my dad’s going to disown that bag anytime soon.