The 250 Square Foot View

Around this time last year, I spent a Saturday afternoon walking through Chinatown with my mom. She was preparing to throw a Chinese New Year-themed party and needed all the accoutrements to decorate her place; items like chopsticks, wooden fans, an Oriental tea set. Anyone who’s been to New York City’s Chinatown knows that most every item’s price is negotiable, and that the vendors are pretty crafty negotiators themselves.

So there we were, nearly finished shopping, carrying our purchases around in little red plastic bags, looking to get in and out before the claustrophobia started to set in. The only remaining item on the list was one of those Chinese umbrellas, and my mom was looking to get a good price. The saleswoman opened the negotiations at $7; my mom expertly low-balled her at $5; they settled on a very reasonable $6. Score! Now my mother is not a wealthy woman, but certainly she could have afforded to pay full price on the umbrella. But that wasn’t the point. She just wanted to feel like she wasn’t being ripped off. She wanted to feel like she won.

It was also around this time last year that I got my first tattoo. My first instinct was simply to use the cheapest shop I could find. But on my girlfriend’s advice, I researched and found a clean and reputable establishment. My artist, Simone, explained that my particular tattoo would take less than two hours to complete the shop’s rate was $180 per hour (I would get a 10% discount, of course, if I could pay cash).

While I was at the shop for my initial consultation appointment, I overheard another customer haggling with Simone over price. He showed Simone the design he wanted and was quoted at $360 for two hours of work, the same amount of time and money as my own design. This other customer said, “Come on man, this is an easy one.”  Simone ponder for a moment, after which he agreed to a reduced rate of $250. My first thought was, What? You’re allowed to negotiate the price of a tattoo? You’re arguing price with a guy who is sticking you with needles thousands of times and permanently marking up your skin? But this dude seemed to know what he was doing. He was a born haggler.

After I overheard that conversation with the other customer, I told my girlfriend that I thought I could maybe do better than $360 for my own tattoo. Having a couple of tattoos herself, my girlfriend (again the voice of reason) advised against it. And eventually I understood where she was coming from. There are certain service professionals that people don’t always feel comfortable haggling with. Some people are afraid to ask a waiter for fries instead of mashed potatoes for fear of having their food spit in. Others hate negotiating price with an auto mechanic because they’re worried their car will end up with a more expensive problem than the one they came in with.

In the end, everyone has their own haggling comfort level. But if I’ve learned anything from my own failed haggling experiences, it’s this: it never hurts to ask, and a simple “Come on, man” can go a lot further than you’d think.