Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Columns

It pays to drive a hard bargain

By Ivan Penn, The Consumer's Edge
Published July 14, 2007

Just over a year ago, I sat in a seminar at Stanford University on negotiations.

The instructor, Maggie Neale, of Stanford's Graduate School of Business, drove home that everything is negotiable.

Of course, being journalists, we questioned her supposition: What about shopping at Home Depot or Wal-Mart? Can we realistically expect to negotiate in these stores.

Her response was a resounding yes. If they don't negotiate, her suggestion was to look elsewhere. Her point: never should accept an offer we don't want.

Too often, we as Americans have allowed big business to decide what we should pay for things, and we have sheepishly caved into corporate greed.

In few arenas, other than when we buy a car, do we choose to bargain - as if the business is doing us a favor to take as much money from us as they can.

Rarely are we in such a crisis that we cannot bargain or find a better bargain. But we choose to pay more than we have to.

Usually that's because we're in a rush. I'm guilty of that, too.

But in June, I was in Beijing, at the Silk Market shopping center.

The Silk Market is far more than just silk. It's a half-dozen floors or so of most any personal item you can think of shirts, pants, blouses, dresses, suits, coats, hats, socks, underwear, ties, luggage, purses ... you get the picture.

Although the Silk Market is widely known as a place to haggle, I watched as some Americans simply took the offers made to them because, well, it still seemed like a good deal.

But when I negotiated, I landed a designer silk shirt and a Polo jacket for 360 yuan (Chinese currency) or about $46. The clerk originally wanted some 1,500 yuan or about $197 for the jacket alone.

How does this translate to shopping in the United States?

Well, I offer this as the edge for this week:

Shop around. If the retailer won't haggle verbally, bargain with your feet, as Neale said.

Take groceries, for example. (And for the record, I'm not endorsing Wal-Mart over Publix or any place else, because of course we've read about that company's issues). But consider this:

A carton of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice at a St. Petersburg Publix will cost you $3.79. At Wal-Mart, it sells for $2.98.

A gallon of 2 percent milk at Publix run $4.19; at Wal-Mart, $3.78.

A 2.5-gallon container of Zephyrhills water at Publix is priced at, $3.19; at Wal-Mart, $2.84.

A 1-pound, 9.5-ounce box of Kellogg's Raisin Bran or equivalent at Publix is $3.89; at Wal-Mart, $2.98.

A 1.75-quart carton of Breyer's ice cream at Publix costs $5.29; at Wal-Mart, $2.88.

A pack of Oscar Mayer beef franks at Publix is $3.59; at Wal-Mart, $2.50.

Total savings: $5.98 (before coupons).

Now you can go find a bargain for a couple of gallons of that really expensive gasoline.

The Consumer's Edge is a twice-monthly column to help consumers in the marketplace. Ivan Penn can be reached at ipenn@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2332.

[Last modified July 13, 2007, 23:05:43]