DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial advisor and this should not be taken to be financial advice. You should consult a financial professional for advice. I am a financial amateur. These are my thoughts and opinions on money that I have recorded here for my children, with the hope that my thoughts might help them. They are responsible for the results of the advice they choose to follow. Always worth keeping in mind: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Your mileage may vary. The map is not the territory. Keep your eyes open. Smell it before you take a bite.
To my children:
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of bargaining and negotiating. You might be able to improve your situation while still keeping it a win-win situation for the other person. The other day, I ordered a burrito that was listed as $12.49 on the menu but it rang up as $13.49 at the register. I mentioned this to the cashier and the owner came over and said that all of the menus were wrong and needed to be updated but that he would give it to me at $12.49 anyway. I felt like this was the right thing for him to do and I think I would have done the same in his shoes but if he had been more grumpy and stubborn about it and said, “Sorry, the menu is outdated, it’s $13.49. Do you still want it?” I would have said yes and paid a dollar more. In most transactions, there is room to go back and forth and still have it be a win-win situation.
One time I had a long layover in Egypt. It was more than 24 hours and I had time to go into town, ride a camel and do some shopping. I knew there would be bargaining over the prices of everything, and there was, and I knew that I would pay too much, and I did, but I figured I was only there for one day and how badly could I be ripped off anyway? And if I agree to a price that I’m okay with, is that really still being ripped off? Anyway, I paid $30 to ride a camel for a while. When I reached my next stop, Singapore, I couldn’t resist lifting up a travel guide to Egypt to see how much camel rides were supposed to cost. It said $2. I was charged 15 times the normal price. This was probably 20 years ago and probably upset me for about 3 years but now I’m over it. I probably fed his family for a month, all while paying what for me was a reasonable price to ride an exotic, 2-humped creature among some pyramids.
Then I found a jellabiya (a light day robe for men) and, well, you know what happened then.
Anyway, the point of all this is just to keep in mind that whenever you are bargaining, there’s another person involved, and you want to leave some room for them to win too. After all, who would you rather do business with again? The person who lets you win some too, or the person who always tries to take all of the middle ground for themselves?
Bottom Line: It can be helpful to negotiate a bit, but try not to be the only winner in the transactions you’re a part of. Keep it a win-win situation for everyone involved.