Just walk away.
Imagine paying $100 for a store brand loaf of white bread. That's what the senate is asking us to do.
I learned about walking away from a deal in morocco, back in 1973. There, in the souks where tourists and locals buy goods, the vendors expect you to haggle. The vendors expect to rip off the most naive tourists, so they start off asking an outrageously high price. This happened to me when I was looking at a tapestry.
"Eight hundred dirhams," he replied, about $200.00.
I knew my brother had bought one of these for $20 or $30 in the states, so I took a deep breath and offered ten dirhams, $2.50, and laughed.
He looked at me like I was crazy, so I started to walk away, as I'd done on numerous other occasions on my one month, post college graduation trip to Morocco.
"I give you special price-- 400 dirhams," he called to me.
"You insult me," I replied. "I'll give you 15 Dirhams," turned to see his response, then kept walking.
"Wait, wait. two hundred. Is very good price." He tried again.
I turned again towards him. "My brother bought one of these in the US. I know what it's worth. I'll give you 20 dirhams," I said.
"I have a wife and four children," he opined. "One hundred Dirhams. You take, yes?"
I walked again.
After a few more exchanges, I finally bought the tapestry for 40 dirhams-- ten dollars, a fortieth of the price he'd originally asked But I'd been ready to walk and did start walking several times. Just because he told me he was giving me a good deal didn't cut it. His offers had sucked. They had been insanely unreasonably initially.
I've been self employed as a freelance writer or entrepeneur since 1980, almost 30 years. I don't take the offered price as THE price. I almost always ask if they can do better. I often shop for better prices and often inform my potential suppliers that I am shopping. This is what business people do to survive. It's not what you gross. It's what you keep. You have to cut good deals every time to make a living.
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