The Free Lettuce That Was Bitter
StoryAnalogy★★★★If something doesn’t look good, I don’t send it to the market. Not for free, not for discount. Give it away here to the staff, throw it away, but don’t take it to the market. Because if that’s all you got—let’s say I give you a lettuce for free, and it’s bitter. The only thing you’re going to remember is that the lettuce was bitter. And it wasn’t that it was free. So you’re not going to think about lettuce next time and be like, ‘Oh, let me go and buy lettuce.’ They gave me that one for free, and it was bitter.
Also attributed to: let's say I give you a lettuce for free, Unknown
Abreu, Adner, “Turning Tomatoes Into Profit Part 4” (AudioVerse teaching 34168).
The point
A farmer explains that giving away bitter lettuce for free only makes people remember the bitterness, discouraging future purchases.