Gratuity implies that a product or service is dispensed without the consumer or user making any consideration.
Gratuity is a term that comes from the French gratuité , in turn derived from a medieval Latin word. Gratuity refers to the condition of free (free of grace or lacking foundation).
The most common use of the concept is in economics . In this context, the free nature of a service or good is referred to when they are provided without the beneficiary making any consideration .
Gratuity, therefore, means that the service or good has no price and that the beneficiary does not pay for it (does not give money in exchange). In any case, it is important to highlight that there are no services or goods that are socially free.
Free and cost of production
All services and products have a production cost and carry an externality (the costs and benefits of their production and/or consumption that are not reflected in the price). So that the beneficiary does not pay for what is given free of charge, someone has to previously assume the costs .
If the good in question really has no cost to anyone, it is not an economic good . In that case we would have to talk about a free good , which lacks a price and an owner. Wind , for example, is a free good, not an economic good that is given free of charge.
Many people make the use of software conditional on its being free since they are not willing to pay for computer programs.
Access without payment
Beyond all that has been said, in colloquial language free of charge is usually linked to non-payment by the consumer or user . Between 2009 and 2017, to cite one case, the Argentine State developed a program known as Fútbol Para Todos . Many maintained that this measure guaranteed free broadcasts of First Division football matches, since viewers did not have to pay to access said content .
However, others warned that the State assumed the costs (paying fees, financing technical operations, etc.) and that citizens, in turn, financed the State through the payment of taxes . That is why they affirmed that such gratuity did not exist.
Free and software
In the field of software development >, for example, the industry has gone through a significant change from its beginnings to the beginning of the second millennium with respect to the price of its products, starting from figures accessible to a few until reaching free as a key to the mass distribution of a basic package that can then be completed through small payments for specific functions or add-ons.
We find ourselves in an era in which free access is practically a condition for the consumption of programs and video games by a large portion of consumers. This phenomenon occurs especially in the mobile market: a large percentage of mobile phone users expect the products downloadable through the virtual store to be free or cost very little money. On the other hand, in the field of computing and traditional video games, both computer and console, prices are very high and this does not prevent these markets from proliferating.
Acceptance of piracy
Perhaps the problem begins when people associate the concepts of free and fair, because they seem to overlook the economic and energy investment involved in creating their favorite products . Piracy is one of the most regrettable phenomena, and it affects the film industry as well as the music, literature and video game industries.
Far from being a crime that is committed in the shadows, millions of people practice it and defend it with pride, claiming that they do not consider it fair to have to pay to see a movie. This nonsense is sustained in part because certain companies are afraid to charge for their products and services, or offer them at considerably low prices.