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Funny story, waited in line at the grocery store while the lady in front of me was being handled by the cashier. Once all the groceries had been scanned, the ca

Funny story, waited in line at the grocery store while the lady in front of me was being handled by the cashier. Once all the groceries had been scanned, the cashier told the customer the total. The lady offered her about half of that. It completely confused the cashier who was not expecting someone to haggle. It went back and forth a few times and then the manager was called and I was helped in the next line over. I waited a while to see what would happen, and in the end the lady stomped out angrily and the manager had an employee restock all the stuff she had brought to the register. That was not a place where there was any price flexibility. However, at the Farmer's market, there is a lot of price flexibility on products. It is an excellent life skill to be able to distinguish between markets where prices are fixed and markets where they are flexible.

bmlzootown 5y ago
We've had local business owners come in before that have tried to haggle with us. Even had one specifically point out repeatedly that he ran a business so he knew how it worked. Wouldn't take no for an answer. It frustrates me to no end when someone doesn't understand the word "no".
- cwillu 5y ago
  “No soup for you. Come back, one year.”
- b3morales 5y ago
  A friend (small business owner) had this excellent retort when confronted by some particularly aggressive faux-sympathy-mongering: > Oh, really, you're a small business owner too? Then you should know better.
- hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
  There are people who ALWAYS want to negotiate. It's a reality that sellers/buyers have to accept. I usually stop after one "No" because I'm very bad at haggling, but I know a lot of examples that people get what they want even after multiple "No"s. Some people are good at this.
technion 5y ago
A local computer store here has a well known policy: If you ask for a better price, they'll come back with an offering 20% above list price. If you question it, it'll go up again. Honestly I don't mind this. If a video card costs $100 and you're selling at $110 and someone says "I'll give you $50" and makes you devote an hour to the sale, they aren't worth it.
- Stratoscope 5y ago
  This reminds me of an imaginary situation I made up one time. Naturally I never leave my backpack with my laptops (yes, plural) in the car. So when I've shopped at a tech store like Fry's (remember them?!) I kept my pack on my back. I wondered what I would do if they asked to search my backpack on the way out. My imaginary response was, "No problem. I charge a ten dollar search fee, which of course if fully refundable if you find I've stolen something. If you question my fee, it goes up to twenty bucks, non-refundable." Alas, I never got a chance to follow through on this, but it was a fun thought experiment!
  - MerelyMortal 5y ago
    You could do that at places that check receipts such as Walmart, but not Costco as they can just terminate your membership. I just walk by and usually they don't say anything, or if they do, I just reply "No thank you," as I am walking. Only one time a receipt checker actually (literally) yelled out, "That's not fair!" Everyone else just turns their attention to the next customer.
    - Stratoscope 5y ago
      Yep, at Fry's I used to let the exit checker wipe the pink pen on my receipt if no one else was in line, or maybe one person in front of me. It let them feel like they were doing their job, and it didn't cost me much time. But if a few people were in line, I would just nod and smile and walk on by. I never had an exit checker question this (they were trained not to!) but I did get a few dirty looks from other customers. Sorry friends, it's not my fault if you don't know the rules. ;-) Even Costco couldn't detain me if I didn't let them inspect my cart. But as you noted, they could refuse to let me shop there again. Of course it would be my loss. Even if nothing else, the membership is worth it for the olive oil! Did you happen to score any of the 2020 organic Val di Mazara? I've been a huge fan of their Toscana year after year, but the Val di Mazara is something else. Such a delightful peppery oil. I hope they get it again in the next harvest.
Stratoscope 5y ago
At our local farmer's market, I trust the farmers to negotiate for me. They have seen me before, and they will often give me a little discount or throw some new thing into my bag to try. Maybe I could get an extra buck or two off, but I have it pretty easy as a software developer working from home. Farming and selling at farmer's markets is hard work. If I don't get the very best price, I figure that's a little tip for them. Of course if I were buying in quantity I might see it differently. But for the bit of produce I buy, I'm happy to pay for quality. And I bet that if I needed a larger quantity, they would offer me a good deal. Part of negotiating is building relationships. I'm not disagreeing with you, and I really enjoyed that strange grocery story. Just offering a related perspective.
- throw123123123 5y ago
  The margins on a grocery store are very low, it would be crazy to try to haggle there. In a farmer's market, they probably throw away half the produce, the margin is more in the quantity of goods than in the price, so it would always be better to try to get more goods for free than to put price down!
  - david38 5y ago
    They don’t. That would be a wildly stupid thing to do. They sell at multiple markets.
  - foepys 5y ago
    > In a farmer's market, they probably throw away half the produce, I don't think that any modern farm can sustain itself on farmers markets alone except when it's a hobby farm. Everything not sold there will be sold to supermarkets in bulk. Farmer's markets are just a nice cherry on top where the margins are higher.
    - jtc331 5y ago
      I think you’re assuming industrial agriculture? Smaller farms can and do survive on markets. Just because they might only be an acre doesn’t mean they’re a hobby farm; some of these are grossing well into 6 digit income.
gnicholas 5y ago
> However, at the Farmer's market, there is a lot of price flexibility on products. And the price flexibility increases as closing time nears!
- ChuckMcM 5y ago
  My favorite comment heard at a garage sale, "In the morning the selection is good, in the afternoon the prices are good." Same energy :-)
aldebran 5y ago
Personally I don’t like to negotiate with farmers. They’re usually family run and is rather they make a good living. At car dealerships like autonation? Oh fuck that, I’ll fight for every dollar!
- astrange 5y ago
  Median farming family in the US are millionaires, and it's not a good thing they're family-owned any more than a used car dealership or small landlord is. They're both in the same class of landed gentry/small business owners, except farmers get more tax breaks. As you can learn from @SarahTaber_bww, they're also the most likely to use slave labor because small businesses can't afford HR departments.
  - mahogany 5y ago
    Are you sure that applies to farmers at farmer's markets? The farmers at the farmer's market that I personally know are not that wealthy and have farms on dozens of acres. Re: slave labor, you might be talking about farmers that have thousands of acres, selling at large scale, who need to hire a lot of hands. Also, "millionaire" seems a bit misleading here. A family farm that's passed down might have a million in assets, but that gets eaten up quickly when you count land, vehicles, livestock, etc. It doesn't necessarily mean someone is living like a king with dispensable income. However, I'm definitely ignorant about the data when it comes to this, so I'll take a closer look!
  - aldebran 5y ago
    Is this true for farmers in farmers markets? I think this might be the case for large scale farming. Most farmers I see in my farmers market have relatively small land. My hypothesis is that if they’re big enough they don’t need to deal with the small quantities at farmers markets. And car dealerships, especially the chains are absolutely not in the same bucket.
graderjs 5y ago
Nice sounding aphorism that's probably false: it's not a market if the price is fixed. It's a cartel

bmlzootown 5y ago

We've had local business owners come in before that have tried to haggle with us. Even had one specifically point out repeatedly that he ran a business so he knew how it worked. Wouldn't take no for an answer. It frustrates me to no end when someone doesn't understand the word "no".

cwillu 5y ago
“No soup for you. Come back, one year.”
b3morales 5y ago
A friend (small business owner) had this excellent retort when confronted by some particularly aggressive faux-sympathy-mongering: > Oh, really, you're a small business owner too? Then you should know better.
hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
There are people who ALWAYS want to negotiate. It's a reality that sellers/buyers have to accept. I usually stop after one "No" because I'm very bad at haggling, but I know a lot of examples that people get what they want even after multiple "No"s. Some people are good at this.

technion 5y ago

A local computer store here has a well known policy: If you ask for a better price, they'll come back with an offering 20% above list price. If you question it, it'll go up again. Honestly I don't mind this. If a video card costs $100 and you're selling at $110 and someone says "I'll give you $50" and makes you devote an hour to the sale, they aren't worth it.

Stratoscope 5y ago
This reminds me of an imaginary situation I made up one time. Naturally I never leave my backpack with my laptops (yes, plural) in the car. So when I've shopped at a tech store like Fry's (remember them?!) I kept my pack on my back. I wondered what I would do if they asked to search my backpack on the way out. My imaginary response was, "No problem. I charge a ten dollar search fee, which of course if fully refundable if you find I've stolen something. If you question my fee, it goes up to twenty bucks, non-refundable." Alas, I never got a chance to follow through on this, but it was a fun thought experiment!
- MerelyMortal 5y ago
  You could do that at places that check receipts such as Walmart, but not Costco as they can just terminate your membership. I just walk by and usually they don't say anything, or if they do, I just reply "No thank you," as I am walking. Only one time a receipt checker actually (literally) yelled out, "That's not fair!" Everyone else just turns their attention to the next customer.
  - Stratoscope 5y ago
    Yep, at Fry's I used to let the exit checker wipe the pink pen on my receipt if no one else was in line, or maybe one person in front of me. It let them feel like they were doing their job, and it didn't cost me much time. But if a few people were in line, I would just nod and smile and walk on by. I never had an exit checker question this (they were trained not to!) but I did get a few dirty looks from other customers. Sorry friends, it's not my fault if you don't know the rules. ;-) Even Costco couldn't detain me if I didn't let them inspect my cart. But as you noted, they could refuse to let me shop there again. Of course it would be my loss. Even if nothing else, the membership is worth it for the olive oil! Did you happen to score any of the 2020 organic Val di Mazara? I've been a huge fan of their Toscana year after year, but the Val di Mazara is something else. Such a delightful peppery oil. I hope they get it again in the next harvest.

Stratoscope 5y ago

At our local farmer's market, I trust the farmers to negotiate for me. They have seen me before, and they will often give me a little discount or throw some new thing into my bag to try. Maybe I could get an extra buck or two off, but I have it pretty easy as a software developer working from home. Farming and selling at farmer's markets is hard work. If I don't get the very best price, I figure that's a little tip for them. Of course if I were buying in quantity I might see it differently. But for the bit of produce I buy, I'm happy to pay for quality. And I bet that if I needed a larger quantity, they would offer me a good deal. Part of negotiating is building relationships. I'm not disagreeing with you, and I really enjoyed that strange grocery story. Just offering a related perspective.

throw123123123 5y ago
The margins on a grocery store are very low, it would be crazy to try to haggle there. In a farmer's market, they probably throw away half the produce, the margin is more in the quantity of goods than in the price, so it would always be better to try to get more goods for free than to put price down!
- david38 5y ago
  They don’t. That would be a wildly stupid thing to do. They sell at multiple markets.
- foepys 5y ago
  > In a farmer's market, they probably throw away half the produce, I don't think that any modern farm can sustain itself on farmers markets alone except when it's a hobby farm. Everything not sold there will be sold to supermarkets in bulk. Farmer's markets are just a nice cherry on top where the margins are higher.
  - jtc331 5y ago
    I think you’re assuming industrial agriculture? Smaller farms can and do survive on markets. Just because they might only be an acre doesn’t mean they’re a hobby farm; some of these are grossing well into 6 digit income.

gnicholas 5y ago

> However, at the Farmer's market, there is a lot of price flexibility on products. And the price flexibility increases as closing time nears!

ChuckMcM 5y ago
My favorite comment heard at a garage sale, "In the morning the selection is good, in the afternoon the prices are good." Same energy :-)

aldebran 5y ago

Personally I don’t like to negotiate with farmers. They’re usually family run and is rather they make a good living. At car dealerships like autonation? Oh fuck that, I’ll fight for every dollar!

astrange 5y ago
Median farming family in the US are millionaires, and it's not a good thing they're family-owned any more than a used car dealership or small landlord is. They're both in the same class of landed gentry/small business owners, except farmers get more tax breaks. As you can learn from @SarahTaber_bww, they're also the most likely to use slave labor because small businesses can't afford HR departments.
- mahogany 5y ago
  Are you sure that applies to farmers at farmer's markets? The farmers at the farmer's market that I personally know are not that wealthy and have farms on dozens of acres. Re: slave labor, you might be talking about farmers that have thousands of acres, selling at large scale, who need to hire a lot of hands. Also, "millionaire" seems a bit misleading here. A family farm that's passed down might have a million in assets, but that gets eaten up quickly when you count land, vehicles, livestock, etc. It doesn't necessarily mean someone is living like a king with dispensable income. However, I'm definitely ignorant about the data when it comes to this, so I'll take a closer look!
- aldebran 5y ago
  Is this true for farmers in farmers markets? I think this might be the case for large scale farming. Most farmers I see in my farmers market have relatively small land. My hypothesis is that if they’re big enough they don’t need to deal with the small quantities at farmers markets. And car dealerships, especially the chains are absolutely not in the same bucket.

graderjs 5y ago

Nice sounding aphorism that's probably false: it's not a market if the price is fixed. It's a cartel