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MELEE · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:47 pm Post subject:

I live in a small city so this might not work for those of you in the bigger cities, but I think it can for most things, probably not taxis.

Develop relationships with the people you regularly buy things from. I always go to the same vendors in the market, and they always give me the going rate. Granted you also have to stay up on the fluctions of the going rate. The price of some produce, especially jitomates, tomates, and aguacates, fluctuate wildly. Others cycle slowly, like oranges, the price of oranges goes up, but always comes back down at this time of year. My regular sellers also give me chiso, after they weigh out the kilo, they throw in a little more. Learn their names and greet them, tell jokes, act like the other shoppers, our market is always festive.

When it comes to artesaneas, my philosophy is how much is it worth to you? They want to sell if for as high a price as possible, you have a choice, you can try to buy as low as possible, or you can decide how much you are willing to pay (even if that might be higher than the lowest price at which they are willing to sell). I choose the latter.

Twelvetongue · Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Sacramento, CA

Ahh the joys of dickering...

Reminds me of the first words of Twi I learned back in Ghana.

"Me wo yere" "I've got a wife!"

"Te so kakra" "lower the price a little"

"Wopeseh wochargee me bebreh efi seh me yeh obroni" "You just want to charge me more because I'm white" which, when said quickly and with the proper intonation, elicited uncontrollable laughter from neighboring vendors. Half of them were deeply insulted, the other half were laughing themselves.

ChitownBadger · Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Madison, WI

Even the U.S. State Department recognizes this barter system. Out of curiosity, I read some public message about Spring Break. They said that in Aca and Cancun, you shouldn't pay full price for anything from street vendors or stores without price tags, and know you're getting ripped off if you get less than a 30% discount.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Sex? No, that went through. Cock? Perhaps *beep*?

Oh, I see...it's *beep*. Without a doubt.

Twelvetongue · Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Sacramento, CA

The joys of Deckering...only spelled with an i instead of an e. That computerized censor is really annoying!