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Sometimes Free is Expensive: A Cautionary Tale
Tuesday, 25th July 2006 (by J.D.)This article is about Frugality, Real-Life
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A couple of weeks ago I extolled the virtues of free stuff. In the comments, AB warned:
There’s no such thing as “free” stuff. You still have to pay to store it, not to mention fixing stuff that only needs “this or that” done to make it perfectly good.
Here’s an example:
My friend Andrew called me on Sunday morning. He’d found a free piano on craigslist, and wanted to get to it before anyone else. Andrew and I (and another friend) drove ten miles to North Portland to get the instrument.
Moving a piano can be a nightmare. We were lucky — this move was shockingly easy. Everything that could go right, did. Still, it took several hours.
When we had at last installed the piano in Andrew’s living room, he began to have second thoughts. It’s not in great shape. It needs tuning (badly) and some cosmetic restoration. Most alarming is the fact that there is no keyboard cover. (Andrew has two children: a two-year-old and a two-month-old. He needs a keyboard cover.) In short, it’s what you’d expect from a free piano. “I guess I’ll have to learn about piano restoration,” Andrew said, frowning.
To thank us for our efforts, he bought us lunch.
Andrew’s free piano has already begun to cost him. He paid $10 in fuel to pick it up. He paid $25 to buy lunch for his workers. He took several hours of our time, incurring a debt of Friendship Points which will have to be repaid in the future. (I know who I’m calling when it comes time to repaint my house!)
He’s got future expenses to worry about, too. It will cost about $100 to have the piano tuned. There will be unknown (but not insignificant) costs to restore bits and pieces. And to get a keyboard cover.
Yes, this is all much cheaper than buying a new piano, but it’s still not exactly “free”.
To his credit, Andrew recognized the path he was on. He called me Sunday night. “J.D.,” he said, “how would you like a free piano? No? Then I guess I’d better post it on craigslist.” Maybe he can get $50 out of it!
5 Responses to “Sometimes Free is Expensive: A Cautionary Tale”
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July 25th, 2006 at 7:34 am
Getting a piano tuned is an expected expense, though, when moving a piano from one place to another. Changes in temperature, humidity, and even the changes in stress loads brought on by moving the piano around are enough to put it slightly out of tune. If it is mroe than a little bit out of tune, it might go out of tune faster than usual after the first few tunings, but once the strings get used to being in tune, it should be as stable as any other piano would be.
Musical instruments really aren’t conducive to saving money. Good instruments are expensive, good repair and maintainence is expensive, and they require proper climate control to stay in good condition. A piano in a house that gets cold and dry in the winter, and hot and humid in the summer will go out of tune very quickly, whereas a piano in a house kept at a more-or-less constant temperature and humidity will need tuning very seldom.
July 25th, 2006 at 8:53 am
I think free only makes sense if it’s something that you just love and that’s been on your wants list already … not something you start wanting just because it’s free.
July 25th, 2006 at 8:57 am
My neighbor is moving. He’s an old man, and has collected a lot of stuff over the years. He had a dark room in his house, and has a lot of old photography equipment. He knows that I’m into photography, and so has offered me all his stuff for free. I’m torn. I don’t know how to use a darkroom. I might have space for one, but it would require fixing things up. I’m perfectly happy with digital. And yet I feel like it’s a bond I can share with him. (He’s just moving one house over, so I’ll still see him lots.)
Ultimately, I’ve decided to take the free darkroom equipment. I have plenty of room to store it. And if I decide I don’t want it, there’s always craigslist!
July 26th, 2006 at 7:53 am
I agree with the above posters. Definitely the free means really a cost savings if you were going to get a piano anyway. In this case, his piano probably will be cheaper than if he bought a 300 dollar piano, which would still need tuning. As far as the key cover goes, just build a little cover with thin wood or use cloth until you find another broken piano which has the pieces you need. Or try a music store to see if they have pieces for you. Or just do without it. If you are spending time collecting free pianos, obviously your life doesn’t need perfection. Surely there are more innovative ways to protect the keys in the modern age anyhow. The reason pianos look and work the same is tradition rather than practicalities anyway. Solve the problem cheaply.
July 26th, 2006 at 7:56 am
One more thing, I have a keyboard which obviously turns off, but I protect the keys from the cat using a little table cloth runner over them. Problem solved pretty much. The runner is nice fabric, it doesn’t look ghetto rigged or anything.