I am of the school of thought that there are no flat rates in this world. Nobody owes you the obligation to fix their prices.
Yesterday I walked past two guys selling "shoe shine" foam sprayers. The mechanism is a can of foam spray that lathers on your shoes and gives it a shine after you brush it. They said they would sell it 9€ (about 3k Naira). The guy saw I was reluctant; intentionally of course, then he said he would give me two for 17€ or 9€ for one.
I looked at him and frowned as if I was thinking. He said okay I should take one for 8€. I smiled and told him I had to go withdraw but could he give me two for 15€ . That's how I bought the items he priced at between 16€-18€ at just 15€ for two. I was not offended. I simply negotiated.
Those days when my Mom would take me along to the market, iyaloja would say efo is 1000 naira and my mom would reply with, ko gba 100 naira ni? Iyaloja will now start squeezing face.
I think if I were to pick between the evils of capitalism and other more "socialist," ideals, I would go for free competition. Everyone has a duty first to themselves to survive and then profit before they have a duty to consider your feelings.
Some people say businesses and service providers should announce their flat rates before asking people to negotiate. I say No! You have a right to negotiate while I have a right to my prices.
A can get the same thing B bought for a million for FREE. I mean absolutely free. The seller owes you nothing.
You owe yourself the duty to understand the market, know the prices and negotiate as tactfully as possible.
Life is basically about negotiations. No one would aim to lose business profit just because they are considerate. People like this should not even be in business at all. They should open a charity or work in the church.
Even church these days. A lady Pastor recently announced that only idiots tell people to not pay tithes. See it's your money and it's her church. If you don't like paying, don't go there. Let's say you want to go to church and the cost is higher in one branch go to another one and patronize. Na joke I dey oo.
Two people who freak me out in this life:
- Those who get offended about price tags being high.
- Those who get offended when you negotiate to the barest minimum.
They freak me out because it's these kind of people who always want government to control what people do. They want a government that takes from the rich to give to the poor. They are easily lied to because they think the world should be fair.
They are the kind of people that believe in "the patient dog..." and they will vote in Buhari for another round of pseudo "Robin Hood."
Opportunity comes to the courageous. If you have a need for a service or product then don't expect people to give you for their lowest price. The culture of charity over profit is a damaging one. It ruins the very fabric of enterprise and venture. It's deceitful, it makes people lazy and entitled. Anyone who has gone through the labour of acquiring a skill or knowledge that you don't have, has every right to price it whatever way they want.
The right you have is negotiation. One of the most under-discussed softskill of our time is negotiations. Most CEOs and top enterprenuers seem to do nothing other than negotiations. Learn this skill, hone it, detach your emotions and sentiments from it and watch your business profit spike. This advice is only for young starters like myself, the big guns may prove me wrong.
PS: this was meant to be a short post. Pick the points relevant to you.