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Be warned that people are reciprocal. I had a business partner who would negotiate everything. We found that luck would turn against us. There would suddenly be
by muzani 5y ago
Be warned that people are reciprocal. I had a business partner who would negotiate everything. We found that luck would turn against us. There would suddenly be added processes and bureaucracy. Partners backed out on verbal promises. People were turning down job offers or sleeping on the job. A banner we bought didn't include the banner stand because it wasn't "included in the price".
If you're generous to others, they may be generous to you. If you're cheap with others, they will definitely be cheap with you.
- robaato 5y agoYup - I remember a customer who boasted how he always negotiated, and I didn't see the warning signs until it came time to pay my invoice!
- LeifCarrotson 5y agoWe have a few customers like that - there's a column in the quote document with customer-specific adders. There are a few that are somewhat innoccuous: New customer risk surcharge, automotive customer process hurdles surcharge, foreign customer customs surcharge... But then there are the "5% surcharge to be removed later as a 'discount'", "Customer X 10% surcharge for extra negotiation and concepting rounds", and "Customer Y 25% surcharge for expected late payment hassles", and "Customer Z 33% surcharge for extra detail in the quote, additional project management, and expected scope bulldozing." They may feel they've 'won', but their extra work was priced in from the start...
- scotty79 5y agoI did this when I was webdev freelancer. I was doubling my price. Requesting half upfront then if the customer was well behaved and the project didn't have too much of unanticipated scope creep I gave generous discount in the end. That gave me some well paying, well behaving, happy returning customers.
- lordnacho 5y agoA hundred times this. A guy I worked with figured out that you can negotiate everything, and did. He'd get pissed off at the bank charging him an overdraft fee and sit in the telephone queue to get his £20 back. He took a cab on a business trip to Dubai, and the cabbie kept the meter going while filling up. He argued it and got the equivalent of 50p off. He'd negotiate agreements with brokers and negotiate absolutely everything. He pushed really hard on the partnership agreement. In the end it was just toxic and people were turned off. You don't want to end up in a long conversation every time there's something to negotiate. It also makes everyone think you're going to be difficult.
- ragebol 5y agoNegotiating takes time. Time is money...
- giantg2 5y agoWell, the cabbie leaving the meter running while filling up is more standing up for yourself and not being taken advantage of. That's a task that should have taken place before picking up a fare (that they wouldn't normally be compensated for that time).
- lordnacho 5y agoAbsolutely everything can be construed as "I can't let you screw me". This is what made it toxic. Pick your battles.
- giantg2 5y agoDepends on the perspective. I think a reasonable person would expect not to be charged for a stop that was in the control of the driver. Most haggling/negotiating being discussed here isn't about getting screwed with an unexpected fee, but about getting a better price before purchasing a service/item. This would be an unexpected fee if the driver didn't disclose this.
- 5y ago
- peterkelly 5y agoNegotiation is the inverse of tipping.
- muzani 5y agoAn anecdote from 48 Laws of Power: Akimoto Suzutomo, a wealthy adherent of the tea ceremony, once gave his page 100 ryo (gold pieces) and instructed him to purchase a tea bowl offered by a particular dealer. When the page saw the bowl, he doubted it was worth that much, and after much bargaining got the price reduced to 95 ryo. Days later, after Suzutomo had put the bowl to use, the page proudly told him what he had done. “What an ignoramus you are!” replied Suzutomo. “A tea bowl that anyone asks 100 pieces of gold for can only be a family heirloom, and a thing like that is only sold when the family is pressed for money. And in that case they will be hoping to find someone who will give even 150 pieces for it. So what sort of fellow is it who does not consider their feelings? Quite apart from that, a curio that you give 100 ryo for is something worth having, but one that has only cost 95 gives a mean impression. So never let me see that tea bowl again!” And he had the bowl locked away, and never took it out.
- leetcrew 5y agoI don't really understand the story. the guy is trying to pay 100 for something he suspects a struggling family hopes to sell for 150, and he's mad that the page haggled off an additional 5?
- dorgo 5y agoFor me the problem is: every time I drink tea from this bowl I'll be reminded that I took away 5 coins from a struggeling family. I rather pay 150 and for the rest of my life am rimended how I genrously helped a stuggeling family.
- davidmanheim 5y agoYes. Turns out that commercial transactions happen in a social context, and even when it doesn't come back to bite you financially, sometimes paying less has social costs that are far higher than what you "saved".
- eyelidlessness 5y agoThere are whole sitcoms devoted to this (idea of negotiating every price), at least 25 years aged. And yeah in my experience being generous almost always produces discounts for everyone. I’m not gonna post it but my take is: did you know that workers generally know they’re not spending their own money, but enjoying as much of their leeway as possible with money they’ll never ever get paid on the job? Tip your waitstaff and bartenders and basically everyone who will accept a tip y’all.