GET REAL, HAGGLERS! Bargaining With Retailers Has A Snowball's Chance In Hell!
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From: babeejm on 1 Feb 2010 09:16 On Feb 1, 4:21 am, spicpussy <clitte...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > But the following makes for interesting reading -- after paying your > bills! > > ----------------------- > > "In tough economic times, shoppers take haggling to new heights" > > By Michael S. Rosenwald > Sunday, January 31, 2010; B01 > > The price tag on the smooth pair of Cole Haan loafers at Macy's said > $148. I considered that a fair opening bid. Standing across from the > salesman and the cash register, I said, "Can you knock off 25 > percent?" > > The salesman said, "Can't do it." But I pressed on: "I'll get them on > the Internet or at one of your competitors, so let's just do this > here." > > Salesman: "Geez. You're like the second person who has tried to do > this today." > > We stared at the shoe box. I liked what was inside. The loafers fit > well, but they would feel even more comfortable with a discount. > > Macy's blinked first. "Ten percent off," the salesman said. "That's > the best I can do." I sensed an advantage and counteroffered: "Let's > do 20 percent." I then sensed annoyance and settled for the 10 > percent. > > My first attempt as a haggler saved me almost 15 bucks and placed me > at the center of "the biggest sea change of consumer behavior since > the end of the Second World War," as Nancy Koehn, a Harvard Business > School retail historian, calls it. In a country that has long shunned > haggling outside of car dealerships and mattress stores, my behavior > may have once appeared unseemly, even crass. That is, until the Great > Recession. Firms are desperate for revenue, Americans are feeling > broke, and the aisles from Best Buy to Macy's and even your > neighborhood Giant -- as well as the 1-800 numbers at Comcast and > Verizon -- have become venues for let's-make-a-deal. > > A recent Consumer Reports study found that 66 percent of American > consumers had haggled at least once in the preceding six months, with > an 88 percent ka-ching rate on gadgets, clothes, furniture and steak. > "People like this," Koehn said. "They are not going to go back to > giving their money away. Why would they?" > > The recession merely popped the lid off a retailing shift that has > been brewing for a decade. EBay gave millions of consumers dealmaking > training wheels (top bid for a "Goonies" DVD: $3.50). The Internet > offers instant pricing data (do a Google search on "Lucky jeans and > deal and DC"). And don't forget Priceline, which lets consumers name > their price for flights, hotels and rental cars (thank you, William > Shatner). > > For consumers like me who have spent decades shopping at full retail, > getting a deal on previously no-deal items is liberating and > invigorating, as I found out during a recent week I spent haggling. At > first, my wife and friends asked me if I was crazy, but when I > reported saving $3 on steak at Giant and $50 a month on our Verizon > bill, they asked only one thing: How? > > I had help. I met Stephen Popick, a government economist, for coffee > one day. Popick is a well-paid guy -- he can afford things. But he > looks at price tags merely as suggestions. (Call him cheap, and he'll > thank you for the compliment.) For years, Popick has haggled down > prices on ground beef, videogames, beer, bicycles, magazines, > satellite TV and even the his-and-her plastic reindeer that adorned > his front lawn for Christmas. > > "I've always wondered why more people don't do this," said Popick, who > lives with his wife in Alexandria. "This is your money. It would be > wasteful not to do this, right?" > > Until the recent recession, Popick was a checkout pariah. Americans, > according to economic historians, had not really haggled on retail > goods since the Great Depression. Long before that (we're talking > frontier days), we haggled over everything. But the Industrial > Revolution brought fixed price tags. Rowland Macy, the founder of > Macy's, played a key role in the trend, heavily advertising prices > that he wouldn't budge from. > > For today's bargain-hunters, Popick's advice is simple: Look for an > edge. That's how he got his reindeer. He saw them at a home- > improvement store, the last two lonely floor models. They had a couple > of tiny scratches, the kind only someone looking for a deal would ever > notice. They were 50 percent off. Popick said to the manager, "How > about 75 percent off and I'll take them home tonight?" Deal. Imagine > that: a deal on a sale. > > Game on. I stopped at Montgomery Mall on the day before New Year's Eve > and boldly asked a Nordstrom salesman for 20 percent off a pair of > those same Cole Haans. "They never go on sale," he responded icily. > Me: "But today, for me, c'mon. It's a new year." No luck. > > Undeterred, I was in Macy's 10 minutes later, where I hit my 10 > percent jackpot. Macy's officials, for their part, claim that such > unofficial discounts are not common practice, which made me wonder: > What if retailers gave up on coupons, which many people just ignore, > and instead price into their business models the ability to haggle for > similar discounts? After all, I had not made a purchase at Macy's in > at least two years, but I bought something this time because I got a > deal. > > Then again, the decision may not be totally up to retail executives, > particularly when you factor in ShopSavvy, a smart-phone app developed > by three 30-something programmers in Dallas. "We wanted to solve a > problem that people didn't even know they had yet," said Alexander > Muse, co-founder of the developer, Big In Japan. > > What was the problem? Say you're techy enough to Google the prices of > goods on your smart phone while you're standing in a store; this can > be pretty tedious. ShopSavvy is a shortcut: It converts the phone's > camera into a price scanner, delivering a live listing of competing > prices as you stand in front of a coveted item. The app is downloaded > once every second. And retailers are playing ball, paying the company > to advertise better prices if a shopper is about to make a purchase > from a competitor. > > "This is the latest spin on the old tactic of saying, 'I know I can > get this for a better price down the street,' " said Greg Daugherty, > executive editor of Consumer Reports. Only now, the tactic actually > works. > > At Best Buy in Rockville, using ShopSavvy, I scanned a three-DVD set > of the "Go, Diego, Go!" cartoon for my son. BestBuy had it for $30, > but I found several other outlets selling it for $24. Time to haggle: > I went to the checkout aisle and showed the clerk the list of cheaper > offers. He called over the manager. I said, "I'll buy it for the price > on my phone." Deal. > > If my haggling at Best Buy was high-tech, my deal at the Giant in > Germantown was decidedly 1980s. The transaction involved a tiny > intercom. Spotting two nice packages of steaks with their sell-by date > approaching, I asked the butcher for a discount. He called the manager > over the intercom. He said he could do $1.50 off each. Deal. Giant > executives told me that "price negotiation is not our policy." Really? > I did it another day in the florist department. "These flowers look a > day old -- can I get a discount?" I asked the employee. Three bucks > off. It felt fantastic. > > Feeling good, according to Koehn, the Harvard retail expert, is what > could make this behavior last beyond the economic recovery. Consumers > want to feel powerful, she said, to exact revenge on Wall Street for > crushing the value of their homes. "This is Rocky running up the > Philadelphia museum steps," she said. > > I'm not going to lie: Pulling one over on a publicly traded company > feels pleasant, even if it is probably misguided blame. After all, > Macy's didn't lower the value of my home 20 percent. But how much all > this haggling is hurting -- or helping -- retailers is not yet clear, > according to analysts. Personally, I see two advantages for them: I > was generally buying things only because I got a good deal, and I felt > more positive toward the companies that helped me out. I'll go back to > Macy's for some spring shirts -- at a discount, of course. > > This feel-good stuff held true especially for Verizon, which provides > me with fiber-optic cable, Internet and phone service. I can't > remember the last time I felt loyalty toward an Internet provider. Who > would? But when I called Verizon to tell them I was thinking of > switching to satellite TV -- shhh, I really wasn't -- they lowered my > bill by about $50 a month, doubled my Internet speed, tripled my HD > channels and added free Showtime. I am not making that up. > > The edge I had is that Verizon, like Comcast, reports to Wall Street > every quarter about "churn," or the number of customers they lose. > Churn is bad. "You got a better deal because you indicated you would > leave," said Verizon spokesman Bill Kula, one of the only corporate > representatives to break down one of my transactions. "We need to > maintain as many broadband customers as possible and also show > growth." He said many customers trying to save money don't play > similar games, instead trimming their services. > > Could they get a better deal by threatening to quit the company? > "Yes," Kula replied. > > I didn't think I could be any more impressed by the churn angle until > I called Verizon's cellphone unit with a professional haggler in > Florida named Allan Stark. A former office-supply store owner in > Baltimore, Stark haggles on everything from planes to TVs to cellphone > bills. For the older crowd uncomfortable with smart phone apps or even > the idea of haggling, Stark offers his own deal -- whatever savings he > wins for you, he splits with you. > > I decided to try him out. If I left Verizon Wireless, I'd owe it about > $600 in early-termination fees, so the odds were against me. I had no > edge. But then Stark went to work on the customer service reps with me > on the phone. > > Some of the things he said: "I've got my friend Mike on the phone, and > he's inundated with competition -- they are all over him, and we don't > want to leave because you guys are the best." . . . "Where are you > right now? Where are you from? I like to know who I'm talking to, you > know?" . . . "You're doing great. I'm gonna tell your > supervisor." . . . "What can we do without him losing any features? > Will you give us a deal because I'm overweight?" > > The agent agreed to give me 10 percent off the data portion of my bill > for a month. Not a big dent, but nice. Then Stark got us connected to > Verizon's loyalty department. A fellow named Mike came on the line. > Mike the service rep didn't want to do much for Mike the customer. He > said if I wanted to save money, I should cut back on services. Then > Stark said, "What about a one-time credit?" Mike the service rep said, > "I can do $50." I would have stopped there. Stark said, "How about > $100?" Mike the service rep said fine. Mike the customer was stunned. > > We all hung up, and I called Stark back to tell him I couldn't believe > he got me a discount while I was under contract. "Mike, there is > nothing you can't negotiate these days," he said. > > My savings, over the course of a week: $730. > > [Michael S. Rosenwald is a staff writer for The Washington Post. M.K. > Perker, a comic book artist, is the author of the graphic novel > "Insomnia Cafe."] > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR201.. >When you can get 25 % off an 18 karat solid gold necklace..then I might be interested. |