On 2007-12-01 08:38:46 +0000, Stuart Noble
said:

Steve Walker wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that
cost? TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about
right, but I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must
be able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous!

Hang up here - no point in wasting time on skinflints who are going to
argue the toss.


We all argue the toss, it's part of our hard nosed commercial culture.

You're kidding. British people who have not traveled much beyond our
shores or Beni generally have little concept of negotiation. Most
will pay the asking price in a shop for example.

Travel the relatively short distance to Holland and the culture is
quite different. There is considerable sensitivity not only to price
but also to discount - hence often high starting prices with plenty of
room to come down. The game is not so much about the price paid but
the extent to which the customer feels he beat down the supplier.
The term Dutch auction is well applied.

Go further afield to parts of the middle east and it's far more so.
Even after the price is agreed, the customer may well continue to ask
for more things or a lower price, so saying no and being prepared to
walk away is certainly necessary.


It's called shopping around.

That's not shopping around. Shopping around is simply following the
prices bid by the suppliers. It has nothing to do with being hard
nosed. Picking the lowst price is really easy


If builders think they're immune, they're kidding themselves. Let's
see what happens next year when the money supply dries up further.

This is simply market dynamics at work - supply/demand