Thanks for writing this! I have a more philosophical counter that I’d love for you to respond to.
The idea of haggling doesn’t sit well with me or my idea of what a good society should be like. It feels competitive, uncooperative, and zero-sum, when I want to live in a society where people are honest and cooperative. Specifically, it seems to encourage deceptive pricing and reward people who are willing to be manipulative and stretch the truth.
In other words, haggling gives me bad vibes.
When you think about haggling/negotiating in altruistic context, do you have a framing that is more positive than this? Put another way: Other than saving money for the good guys (us) and costing money for the bad guys (some business), why is all of this “good”?
The idea of haggling doesn’t sit well with me or my idea of what a good society should be like. It feels competitive, uncooperative, and zero-sum, when I want to live in a society where people are honest and cooperative.
Counterpoint: some people are more price-sensitive than typical consumers, and really can’t afford things. If we prohibit or stigmatize haggling, society is leaving value on the table, in terms of sale profits and consumer surplus generated by transactions involving these more financially constrained consumers. (When the seller is a monopolist, they even introduce opportunities like this through the more sinister-sounding practice of price discrimination.)
Thanks for writing this! I have a more philosophical counter that I’d love for you to respond to.
The idea of haggling doesn’t sit well with me or my idea of what a good society should be like. It feels competitive, uncooperative, and zero-sum, when I want to live in a society where people are honest and cooperative. Specifically, it seems to encourage deceptive pricing and reward people who are willing to be manipulative and stretch the truth.
In other words, haggling gives me bad vibes.
When you think about haggling/negotiating in altruistic context, do you have a framing that is more positive than this? Put another way: Other than saving money for the good guys (us) and costing money for the bad guys (some business), why is all of this “good”?
Counterpoint: some people are more price-sensitive than typical consumers, and really can’t afford things. If we prohibit or stigmatize haggling, society is leaving value on the table, in terms of sale profits and consumer surplus generated by transactions involving these more financially constrained consumers. (When the seller is a monopolist, they even introduce opportunities like this through the more sinister-sounding practice of price discrimination.)