Among WWII veterans, resentment toward the Red Cross still simmers because it once charged for doughnuts that were previously free:
The organization started charging only because the U.S. Secretary of War asked it to. British soldiers had to pay for their snacks, and the free doughnuts for Americans were causing tensions. So the Red Cross complied, after protesting to no avail. It didn't last long — for most of the last 70 years, Red Cross doughnuts have remained free — but veterans haven't forgotten.
Chalk it up to something called categorical change, says Uri Simonsohn, a University of Pennsylvania business professor.
Price changes, people can adjust to. But this was different. "Imagine, for Thanksgiving, you go to your parents' for dinner and after a nice dinner they say, 'That's going to be $10 per person,' " Simonsohn says. "You would be upset." The problem isn't the price — $10 for a good turkey dinner might not be such a bad deal — but that you're being charged in the first place. It changes the relationship. For the veterans, the Red Cross went from being a little like Mom, to being the corner store.
So for all the Internet companies out there looking to charge for your service — take heed. Changing categories is really difficult.
Update from a reader:
The Red Cross donut story has a strong hold in our family. This is the family lore I’ve been told. My great uncle was captured by the Germans during WWII. He was marched for days towards Berlin. Every night the Germans would poison a few of the prisoners food for good measure. One night when the American prisoners were told to bed down in a hay stack he and his stack buddy spent all night digging underneath the stack. In the morning when the stacks were strafed my uncle and his buddy were safely below the stack. Once the Germans left with the rest of the prisoners he and his buddy escaped.
After days behind enemy lines they stumbled into a Red Cross camp. They were starving and asked for something to eat. The Red Cross tried to charge them for the donuts. The older generations of my family (mostly gone now) never gave to Red Cross after WWII. I know all of the rest of the story is true so I have no reason to doubt the Red Cross portion of it.
The Dish 