Paul, at 16:52 on May 17 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> The Courier has an RRP of $799, but that's just a guide, and nobody should 
BG> ever pay that.  And what's more, only complete and utter fuckwits pay the 
BG> advertised price for something like modems or PC peripherals.  There is 
BG> ALWAYS room for haggling, and I suspect that had I pushed it, I could have 
BG> bought that Courier for even less than $600 (it a big advantage if you know 
BG> their buying price too).

PE> I think you're comparing me to King of the Hagglers (you). 

I actually HATE haggling, but am driven by a primal desire to save money. 
As you're possibly even meaner than I am, I'd have thought you'd have taken
to haggling like a fish to water.

PE> I am not that good, the best I can do is go around yelling
"sysop, sysop".
PE> And then "CHH, CHH", and they *still* wouldn't budge from $675, and
PE> it was their bloody sister shop?!!! 

CHH and MSS sell service, not discounts (that's what they told me when I
commented on their overall rather high prices), and they're of the old
school which hasn't yet woken up to the fact that if they let a potential
customer out of their shop without buying what they came in for, they won't
be back.  Most intelligent dealers these days would sooner cut their
margins in order to make a $10 profit on a $700 modem, than miss the sale
altogether.  ANY profit is better than none at all.

PE> No-one else I rang was any cheaper either.

Sorry, it doesn't work like that.  You need to get off your arse and see
these people in person.  Once you wave a fistful of notes in their faces,
it's quite amazing what they'll do to relieve you of some of it.  Jeeze
Paul, if I can haggle a Courier down to $600, anybody can.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20