Comment by corin_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by corin_ | Hacker News Reader

Another side to think about is how people want others to see them. I happily donate blood (in the UK, where there aren't options to get paid for doing this), but if they started paying a small amount, I would feel that, by going in, people would see me and think "he's so desperate for money that he's donating blood to earn some".

Same thing, say, volunteering in a charity shop (which I haven't done for a few years, not for reasons related to this). If I were to be offered pay, it would be too little for me to care about getting, and again I would, sadly, care that people would see me as the person whose job is in a charity shop, rather than the person who is volunteering his time for a good cause.

It's a pretty petty way to think, and I don't always let the "but people will think..." win my internal argument. but it's usually there, and fairly often does sway my decision. (For the record, I don't care that people see me in a positive light, I'd be just as happy donating blood in such a way that no-one ever noticed me doing it, the bit I care about is when I feel I might be seen in a way that I don't like. Still pretty egotistical, but not quite as bad as wanting to show off, I think/hope.)

Spot on. It is actually one of the explanations in the Gneezy and Rustichini paper: "consider the practice of paying back a small amount for recycling a soft drink bottle, which is common in many European countries. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people are less willing to recycle when this small compensation is offered, than they are in places where no money is offered, and failure to recycle is simply considered bad behavior. It is unlikely that the amount offered is considered insulting. A different explanation in this case might be that people are afraid of looking ‘‘cheap’’ for making the effort of recycling to collect the small amount."

Interestingly, in my travels I can only recall coming across that system once, it was at a hotel in Germany and I was quite young, somethiong like 12-15 years old.

Now days I recycle at home purely for the environment, but I don't think I cared much back then - whereas, with a vending machine that paid out when you returned a glass bottle, young me was very pleased to be able to do that, to help pay for the next bottle.

Lawyers are the same way. They either charge normal rates or work pro-bono. They almost never work for a reduced rate.

Making any product available for a reduced rate reduces it's perceived value in the market... particularly something personally branded like law services or art.

Every firm I've worked for charges a variety of rates; they are absolutely negotiable. Charging less than your stated rate, particularly when you outline why you're charging that amount (as a favor, for a limited number of hours, for this case, etc.), isn't going to reduce your perceived value.

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