Why Rich People Bargain With Vegetable Vendors?

My parents never bargained and never did we kids. Good thing about living in a smaller town is that the vegetable/ fruits seller come to the street according to your schedule and it’s almost a sort of family. They will bring the best stuff and make sure to deliver it to their favorite families first.
With rickshaw wallas, my mom always said that the poor guy is going to pull our combined weight, we should not haggle the price . I noticed this multiple times growing up that the vendors can judge who is going to haggle and who is not. Many times we will say yes to the price of rickshaw and then the rickshaw wala will say- behan ji, aap me kam nahi karwaye paise, thode de do and my mom would still give the same price.

We had this experience at a clothing showroom once. We always shopped at the same shops in our town and they already knew we won’t haggle so gave fair price. Once we went to a new shop and the shopkeeper gave us Rs. 200 discount on the bill. This was in late 90s early 2000s.
I even bought my first car in the USA without negotiating. My friends gave me hard time because I could have saved at least 2-3k. J learned that lesson and since then every car we have bought, I do the negotiations (my husband would pay in full).

 

Haggling with street vendor gives a mighty thrill & satisfies ego.

Affluent or Rich or moderately rich or poor, they used to haggle at doorsteps when street vendors call on.

But with digital India, it is changing. COVID pandemic aided, everyone rich and or moderately rich and middle or upper middle, in India ordering on line that includes groceries and vegetables that are good and bad mixed delivered at doorsteps.

Dad used to walk me by hand to veg market. He would initially survey almost entire market to ascertain which vendor or hawker on pavements has the best fresh ones and enquire price and walk off. Then he would decide where and what to buy. With some he would haggle. With some not. He had soft corner always for the older women & men.

In a lane, at entrance to market, a row of vendors social distanced sqat and announce loudly the price of their items.

An old lady selling palak -water sprinkled over-two Anna's per bundle and after three or four of their ilks in the same row , another young lady selling same palak item for one Anna. Dad bought from old woman. I asked him for the same bundle, why he ignored the cheaper one. I was convinced when he replied, "Half of that cheap bundle the leaves are not fresh".

Another surprising thing that dad told was that one anna seller is daughter in law of two anna old lady!

I learnt from beloved parents the technique to bargain without causing hurt to the seller which was stepping stone in later life in other spheres to develop great techniques for negotiating larger win-win deals.

I owe my bargaining skills to my spouse too. For sarees she would go to shops where they display இன்று ரொக்கம் - நாளை கடன் - terms cash credit tomorrow.

But we never haggle with poor vegetable vendors.

I was at earshot, when my mom was inspecting the Palak from the vendor’s basket at our doorsteps. She picked up three bundles kept aside and asked the lady vendor how much. She said ₹12. My mother said is it for three? Vendor said “per piece: it is large bundle” my mom simply walked away. She needed my help to keep the heavy basket on her towel wrapped in turban head.

My mom came out with a glass of buttermilk with a dash of asafoetida powder mixed & curry leaves squeezed in it. She offered it to vendor. She smiled and lifted the basket from her head. Mom gave her twenty took three bundles.
Thanks & Regards.

 

Deleted being duplicate.

 

Nobody would.. The fancy A/C shops where there are price tags , we are not supposed to bargain. (rules are set and it's a prestige issue you see)
Now the answer to your question , we bargain because we have seen our mothers and grandmothers bargain. (it runs in our blood to bargain?) The mall culture is pretty new (about 25 years old in our country) . The big shops (malls) have price tags and we don't bargain nor question their prices.

I personally hate bargaining, but I will admit I bargain at certain places - say street shopping.
A Kurta worth 400 would be told as 1000 by three street shop vendor. You know you can use it like 3 4 times then it's gonna tear or the color is going to fade. So bargaining happens at such places. .
He says 100 rs for one pair chsppal and you convince him and buy 2 pairs for 150 because u simply know that it's gonna last a couple of times. ..
Place I don't bargain : vegetable n fruit stall, tender coconut shop, aunty who sells flowers - especially old people who sell these stuff and sit for hours together to just to make that tiny profit or we don't even even know if they make profit at all.

But not all mangoes are sweet. Tourist places are something I totally avoid shopping but then these rickshaw wallas keep a tie up with some shops and forcefully take us to certain shops. They obviously know that if this certain rickshaw walla brings then they are tourists. So they quote 5x the price. A Saree worth 1k will be quoted 5k. If you are desperate to buy then you can bargain and buy. So such places bargaining is must.