LOL, A+

But srsly, are you going to respond to any of my points or just sit back and say "nyah nyah nyah nyah boo boo, I don't haggle but you do"?

If you were on his level this would all be self-evident. I mean, duh?

Hahahaahahaha

There is no fast and easy way to explain to someone why something is embarrassing when they themselves don't share the same set of values. Basically the same reason you can't explain to some emo kid that being emo is embarrassing.

Henry's right, you know. This really is about values.

Sums up entire thread.

Is it possible the two sides can do things the way they wish and not haggle over haggling?

Tell them you mean business!

can you link me to this please. I have been looking for mattresses

Henry17,

Slightly off topic, but curious about your take on a situation.

Yesterday i buy some **** at crate and barrel. It was just like a couple of tiny items so i paid w/ a twenty and got something like 7.xx back, which I put in my pocket.

Next I go to The Container Store to pick up some picture hanging nails, etc. Dude rings me up, it is 3.59. I hand him a 5 then remember and say oh wait, I think I have some change. Note that at this point I don't recall exactly how much change I had from the prior transaction, I just remember that I was given some change which may have been more than 59 cents. Then I pull out the change, which appears to be about 80 cents, count out 59 cents and pay.

Thoughts on my actions here?

I think you should be able to figure out based on the reasoning for the anti-coupon position that it completely depends on if someone is behind you in line or not and your ability to count change. The answer to all questions is if you do anything that causes a unnecessary delay = bad.

Obvious solution if Henry is behind them is to just offer to buy their stuff if him being delayed by 30 seconds is worth the cost of the items. So if the items are $100 or less, Henry pays for them.

I think it's a cultural thing. Reading the posts now makes it clear.

I like to use money to reduce stress and save time. Haggling increases both, so unless it's a considerable amount of money I wouldn't consider it at all.

I think that's really the fundamental difference between the two sides in this argument - the values assigned to each of those elements.

Yeah some people lack common decency. Not talking about coupons here, but hagglers seem to purposely use the fact that people are waiting to their advantage in haggling situations. They like the pressure that it puts on the store to make them shut up and go away, and don't give a **** that if X people are in line they just wasted X*t amount of time for everyone else for their own benefit. It's blatant stealing from those waiting behind them.

When it comes to a ton of coupons it's on a much smaller scale and is part of the accepted routine at a grocery store, so I don't think that the negative connotation would apply as heavily in this situation.

Exactly; well put.

I sold flooring for a couple years. And it was standard practice from both sides. Just one example, and def not something people buy on a day to day basis, but none of the other examples are either. I.E. car dealers, pawn shops.

I've given the person in front of me 2 or 3 dollars on a few occasions when they are a little short and the cashier has to wait for the manager to remove items. I don't have all ****ing day.

The problem with that is that I'm always split between will they get it that I am insulting them or do they lack any self-respect and will see it as a gain. I was driving on the 401 and stopped to get something to eat at one of those places on the highway. The women in front of me at Subway was paying for two subs $12-14. She was complaining about the US exchange rate because the rate Subway gave was not as good as the bank. It was baffling that anyone would expect a fast food place to match the bank rate and further that anyone would care about what would end up being less than a quarter. Anyway she had $5 in CDN and so insisted that she be allowed to pay the bill in multi-currency so as to limit her exposure to the bad exchange rate. I wanted to just throw $20 at her and tell her to go away but then she is such a cheap oblivious bitch that she would likely see that as a win and it would just encourage this behavior.

I'm grunching from roughly post 100.

I'd love to read some game theory based commentary on this interesting topic.

Game theory doesn't add anything here. The debate is not about what is the optimal move but over the actual value system used to quantify different moves.

Oh, I see. Thought It would be interesting to discuss the game theoretics aspect of this topic, I'll read the last pages to get on track.

Not really. You either don't understand game theory or you don't understand my post.

Wow, you're getting harsh from the beginning...

It isn't being harsh. Just point out the obvious. But since you think it would be interesting why don't you tell me in what way?

The closest thing to game theory here is that the "win" in the haggling session is coming at the loss of everyone else being inconvenienced, the collateral damage caused by the exercise in bargaining.

While the two in question may (or may not) arrive at a fair market price for said good, the net result to the rest of the world is strictly negative.