>>>>>>The increase in medical costs here is a national outrage and should have caused thousands of people to be sent away for long time
>>>>>
>>>>>Do you remember the phone company advertisements begging us to PLEASE use white pages to find phone numbers and not call 411 information?
>>>>
>>>>Yes, I do.
>>>>My sister-in-law worked for a while as one of the people who answered your 411 call.
>>>
>>>Why don't you see those ads any more?
>>
>>I don't know. Why don't I?
>
>411 was "Free" to consumers, per regulation.
>
>Some people used it a lot, why not, it was "Free"
>
>Your sister-in-law still got paid and had an office to work in, and that all costs money.
>So, if the consumer did not pay for the service, "somebody else" was paying.
>
>The costs for "Free" 411 were out of control.
>Literally, the phone company had no control over escalating demand for the "Free" service.
>So, they put up ads begging us to not use the service.
>
>When somebody else pays and something seems "Free" then it will be over-consumed and that third party has to pay and pay.
>Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?

How and why would someone over-consume 411?
Are you suggesting that someone who can read, with a phone book at hand, would call 411 just because it was free even though they probably could get the number more quickly by looking in the book?
New Yorkers must be odd, because I never met anyone like that.

On the other hand.. you might find that there was a correlation between the appearance of those ads and the breakup of AT&T and the ensuing price wars which made carriers look for ways to reduce costs.
Of course it was never "free" but AT&T's monopolistic pricing could cover the cost.
Once that stopped, all bets were off.
That was one time that the government got it right.
Had AT&T not been dissolved, there would almost certainly be no internet.

A few decades ago, meals and luggage checking were "free" in coach seats on most airlines.

With the deregulation of airlines (to Jimmy Carter's everlasting discredit) and the appearance of Southwest, et al, many "free" items disappeared.

Again, they were never free, but monopolistic pricing allowed for them.