Haggling

It may be the norm in the many developing nations, but haggling is probably one of the last things I thought I'd be able to do in the US. How wrong I was!

Although I've only tried it on a few occasions (and then only because the situation presented itself), it is amazing what you can haggle over - even when the official price is clearly marked. I have, for example, saved hundreds of dollars negotiating down the price of our cars and even new furniture. But my most recent haggling success was by far the most lucrative.

At a visit to the electronics superstore Best Buy, I was approached by a man who asked me who my Internet provider was. I told him that I get my Internet access, TV and telephone through the cable company Comcast. Was I satisfied, asked the man, whose shirt I noticed bore a Comcast logo. I said that yes, I was satisfied on the whole, but was considering switching to the competition because my triple-play subscription had shot up from an initial $99/month for the first three months to $176. "Let's see whether I can make you a better offer," he said.

After typing in some figures on his computer terminal, he said, "How does $122 sound?"
"Very good," I replied, "though not as good as $99". This prompted yet more fervent number-crunching (presumably he was calculating the margin), during which I again reminded him how ready I was to abandon his company. Finally he said, "The best I can offer you is $114". For how long? "At least a year."

I shook his hand and thanked him - and without having had to sign anything, I had saved myself $741 a year on a subscription for a service with a fixed price.

God bless America.