Thanks for paying for all of my food, PayPal.

There is such thing as a free lunch...and breakfast, and dinner, thanks to a business plan I don't quite understand at PayPal.

 

If you download its free app, you can use free coupons ("Offers") that give you store credit at various businesses. That's right. It's not a discount. You get credited ($5 or $10) towards your purchase, even if your purchase is less than that amount. What the Free! Holy Moolah!

A quick Googling didn't yield any news article on this, which is surprising, because eating out is expensive in NYC.

Don't have a smartphone? Sorry, folks. You'll have to pay full price for that bread.

Perhaps, the aim is a word of mouth campaign (you're welcome, PayPal?). 

Maybe PayPal hopes people will like it, and then learn to use the app without the free credit, in a feat of Pavlovian genius.

I'll admit: The first stage in operant conditioning has been successful, PayPal. Oh the complicated routes I travel, panting and salivating at your free offers at restaurants, bars, groceries, and creperies around NYC.

Me (pictured) on my way to lunch.

And the second stage has been a success, too: I follow your command to say, "I'm paying with PayPal" to the person at the cash register and anyone else who can hear those words. I say it proudly and loudly because it's free. Who knows if the other customers know that.

It's not so bad jumping through some hoops for a free lunch.

But what's the end game here, PayPal? I've spent around $150 of PayPal's money on lunch and dinner over the last month. 

Today, I've already gotten $15 worth of free grub:

• A frozen Amy's Mattar Paneer
• A Reeds Spiced Apple Ginger Brew - Holy moly! That's good stuff 
• A medium chai latte
• Siggis, a delicious Icelandic yogurt that always reminds me of Ziggy, the computer system on Quantum Leap.

Ziggy ran on a smart phone, too.

I feel like I'm winning. But that is what a good manipulator wants. 

My guard is up, PayPal. (shudder) I hope you haven't already gotten to me.