Entry 2 (part 2): To Bargain or Not to Bargain?

The topic for week 3 was about speech acts, and an instance to illustrate act sequence, one of the important aspects of analysing a speech event, is the typical Southern California marketplace talk. Basically, it is found that the typical act sequence for such a speech event would go like this: The vendor begins the event by appealing or offering service (e.g. "Wanna try some apples?"). The customer continues the conversation by making the order or selecting the goods (e.g. "Sure, I'll have some/How much for 4 apples?"). The vendor then finishes the conversation by complying or declaring the price (e.g. "Certainly/$3 for 4 apples"). This typical speech event would have some variations but the general pattern remains the same.

After the lecture, I wanted to have some real input by asking a "test subject", and I decided that that "test subject" would be someone who frequents a marketplace. That person is none other than my mother, who somewhat has a love-hate relationship with the wet market (she complains about the prices and service there all the time, yet she keeps going there despite having other alternatives). In her case, would the typical speech event follow the same act sequence mentioned above? Her explanation was intriguing...

After the second act (vendor complying or declaring the price), her  conversation becomes something else. She bargains with the vendor to lower the price. Almost always. In fact, she explained to me that bargaining isn't easy but it's important (note that the word is in italic because she stressed this aspect) for the customer-vendor relationship. I asked her "Is bargaining something bad to you?". She replied that she doesn't think so. She didn't admit that; instead, she readily replied (you won't admit something if you never denied anything in the first place (｀-´)> ).

Before I explain why she thinks bargaining is important for both the customer and the vendor, I'll explain the "rules" she follows when she bargains for anything. The "rules" are as follow (be reminded that this is my mother's methodology):

• Bargain at wet markets.

Although bargaining isn't restricted to wet markets only, they are the best place to do so. She explains that bargaining is impossible in say, supermarkets. Well, that goes without saying; who would you bargain with at the supermarket, anyway? The cashier?? Bargaining is all about direct interaction, and this is doable in wet markets.

• Bargain for small items.

You'll be amazed by my mother's adeptness in bargaining. I found out that my 10-year old mattress was bargained even though it originally costed more than S$100 back in the day! However, bargaining for smaller items is relatively easier for obvious reasons. Bigger items are naturally more expensive, and vendors are more normally reluctant towards bargaining for something more costly.

• Bargain for selected food items.

If the setting is the wet market, then this "rule" is very applicable. The common food items to bargain for are fruits, vegetables and fish, and according to my mother, they're easy to bargain. Fish are more strongly recommended to bargain for than fruits and vegetables because they're much easier to criticise. The easier to criticise, the easier to bargain for the compromised quality. Criticise as much as you can about a fish: the gills, the eyes, the scales, the colour... every aspect makes money. Chickens however, are hard to bargain for some reason. Perhaps it's because a lot of factors come into play in the pricing.

• Bargain for unrounded-priced items.

The prices for certain food items may not be rounded off to the nearest dollar. For example, some apples can be priced at $2.50 for 4. Bargain for items like these; try to ask for $2 instead. Plus, bargaining based on rounding to the nearest dollar is the easiest form for both the customer and the vendor in terms of mental computation, anyway.

• Bargain often, but never always.

The universal notion applies: "Too much of something isn't always a good thing". If you bargain too much, you'll be seen by the vendor as a gross opportunist. In the end, you'll go against the original objective of building a relationship with the vendor. Remember, bargaining is supposed to be a win-win situation (a compromise); the customer isn't supposed to be the only winning party and the same goes for the vendor too.

Now comes the important question: Why does my mother believe that bargaining is about establishing a close relationship with the vendor? Think of it this way: When my mother bargains with a vendor for something, she's also including a "fine print", and the vendors should know how to read between the lines. The fine print is somewhere along the line of "If you lower the price, I'll be your regular customer because I know I can bargain with you again after this. If you don't, I can always go to other vendors for the same thing. I get the item at a lower price, and you get yourself good business by having me as another regular customer!". See the mechanics involved in the conversation? My mother is unlike many of those who bargain: they do so for the money, but my mother does it both for the vendor and the money Σ(゜д゜;)


Edit:


Now, my mother also introduced several strategies for the undesirable outcome; in other words, if the vendor doesn't comply with your first bargained price. They are:

• Take note of the environment.

This is very applicable in the wet market. It's very likely that there's more of one shop of a certain type; for example, there are bound to be more than one fruitseller in a wet market. If the first fruitseller doesn't comply with you, deftly intimidate them: "That other stall is selling it for a cheaper price, you know!". Don't blatantly lie about the existence of the "other stall"; make sure that "other shop" does exist for credibility and integrity purposes.

• Make a deal with the vendor.

When you're bargaining with a vendor, you're also connoting something in your dialogue (covered in the previous paragraph). The vendor may not comply because he/she didn't get the drift. Explicitly tell the vendor that you'll be frequenting the place if he/she complies with the bargained price. That way, you clear up any misunderstanding.

• Badmouth... to a small extent.

This strategy is a two-man operation and my mother would use this when I'm following her to the market. She would comment how expensive the item turns out to be or how stingy the vendor is, to me in Malay. She may do this either as frustration (normal) or with an ulterior motive (clever). If she does it with an ulterior motive, she comments to me in Malay in a deft attempt to incite a counter reaction from the vendor to respond to the explicit complaint. This strategy is not advisable because you're compromising yourself as someone who's indiscreet enough to ironically complain behind people's back, in front of them. However, my mother have experienced how some vendors remain nonchalant because my mother wasn't the only customer, anyway.

Is bargaining a bad thing in the first place? This is a tough question to answer. Firstly, you must know if bargaining is a common practice nowadays, and if it is, where is it normally practised. Is it something exclusive to Singapore as a branch of "kiasuism" (i.e. the phenomenon of not wanting to lose out in any situation, by any means necessary)? Is it an Asian trait? For some reason, bargaining isn't something common in Western countries because it may deemed unethical. Bargaining, in a way, makes the customer look like a cheapskate and it's worse when the customer uses bargaining to label the vendor "stingy" if he/she doesn't comply. After seeing how bargaining not necessarily a bad thing, I'd conclude that bargaining is a double-edged sword. It can be used to establish or enhance the customer-vendor relationship, or simply make things worse by labelling the customer and vendor "cheap" and "stingy" respectively.

To end off the post, I'll share with you readers a speech that epitomises the concept of irony. At one time, she didn't get something from a fruitseller at a bargained price. I can't remember what the item was, but for something that costed as little as $4.50, bargaining for $4 shouldn't seem to be a big deal. Disgruntled, my mother walked away with me and grumbled in Singlish, "Aiyah, 50 cents also want to count. Cannot bargain. So mengire (Malay for "counting"; penny-pinching). Here's my poser: Who's the real penny-pincher here （´-`）.｡oO( ... ) ?


P.S. I want to give generous compliments to my economically sage mother for her invaluable insight on bargaining. Her explanation had me intrigued enough to write this post, and I hope that readers can relate this post with their own past experiences.

And no, I'm not being sarcastic at all.