I think it depends on what the cost of something is. There's an immense difference between buying a house and buying a bag of peanuts, for example.
With some fairly large purchases, you may not be able to haggle but you can look around - e.g., getting the best fare to Europe. Ed > > Arthur wrote: > >> It also depends on how we value our time. When shopping, I prefer to >> spend as little time as possible in the act. I would rather be doing >> something else with my time than haggling. Almost anything else. >> >> So someone spends 10 minutes to save a few dollars or even 20 >> dollars. May be OK for some, not for me. >> >> For some its a game, for me its a waste of time and demeaning to all >> concerned. > > I'm with Arthur. With private sellers, where I can reasonably > anticipate that the vendor has planned dickering into his asking > price, and for something over, say $1000, I'll make a counter offer. > But by my lights, making a counter offer asserts that the vendor knows > he's overpriced and is trying to jerk me around. > > For some people, there's deeply felt belief that the "true market > price" hasn't been properly established and no "meeting of minds" can > occur until extensive dickering has taken place (although they likely > wouldn't use the terms I've put in scare quotes.) For these people, > any asking price is a declaration that the seller's estimate of the > true value is 20%to 40% lower. > > There's an interesting take on the subject in Neal Stephenson's > _Quicksilver_. Half-cocked Jack the vagabond has just been introduced > to an Armenian coffee seller by the primo rat catcher of Paris in > 1684. Jack dickers over the price of a cup of coffee and the author > explains his thinking that this is absolutely essential to maintain > the dignity of both parties and establish mutual trust and respect. > > I get it but I don't grok it. > > > - Mike > > -- > Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. > /V\ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] /( )\ > http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca > http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
