[2] An example of a psychic cost is the guilt that a US-restaurant-goer feels if they do not make a voluntary tip to a waiter.
Teaching in a small college does not pay well, but new PhD graduates still want to work at these institutions, because it is so pleasant to live in a small town and work in a park-like campus filled with young people and because there is so much competition for tenure-track positions at more prestigious schools.
For mechanical items such as cars and appliances, customers may be worried about getting a mechanically-faulty "lemon" or a product that does not suit their needs.
To reduce these perceived psychic costs, and encourage customers to make purchases, businesses have developed many strategies, including exchange policies, which allow customers to return the product and exchange it for a similar model within 30 days; return policies, which allow the return of the item with money back; service guarantees, which promise technical support or in-home technician visits; and price guarantees, which promise to refund the difference should their store or a competitor drop the price within a certain period.
Similar promotions are used by apartment building managers, who offer "first month free" deals for people who sign a one-year lease.
As well, for business owners with mainly black clientele, some white clients may not come into their restaurant or theater because of perceptions that it may not be safe.
[5] Slate writer Steven Landsburg argues that "psychic costs shouldn't count because they're too easy to exaggerate.
[7] In the article Putting a Price Tag on Friends, Relatives, and Neighbours, N Powdthavee argues that there are substantial psychic costs associated with being unemployed or separated from a marriage partner by divorce, because these situations reduce the social ties that keep us emotionally healthy.
Obtaining this "free" downloadable song may impose other psychic costs that make a person worry.
The song file may have to be reformatted to work with one's media player and it may have to be screened for viruses or spyware.