The economics of a free taco

Taco Bell reportedly paid $5.6 million to advertise its taco giveaway during the World Series.

The promise was that if a player, any player, stole a base, everyone in America would get a free taco.

The base was stolen in Game 2 and now it's payup time.

An expert figures it will cost Taco Bell less than $1 million cause:

-- it costs about 20 cents to make one of those "crunchy" tacos.

-- if every Taco Bell in America (6,000) gave away three free tacos a minute for three hours, that'd be about 3 million tacos.

-- at 20 centavos a taco, that's around $700,000, reports Ad Age.

Here's the angle -- the giveaway will be between 2 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, after most people already have eaten lunch. Moreover, they figure you'll buy a soft-drink to wash it down. The profit margin on a soft drink is even greater than a 77-centavo taco. And, finally, they figure a visit to a Taco Bell induced by a free taco will result in more visits to Taco Bell in the future.

I'll tell you this right now. Should I show up for a free taco tomorrow, I ain't ordering a soft drink. Just a water for me, thank you. Just to be ornery and stick it to the man, I guess.