COMMENTS
What do we do when the wallet curls up like a wallet in cold water? We haggle.
GIVE ME MONEY: Norwegians are traditionally bad at haggling. Is it changing? Photo: Scanpix Show more
Internal comments: This is a comment. The comment expresses the writer’s position.
Published on Wednesday 07 February 2024 – 23:08
Here in Norway, we have traditionally bowed to three authorities: the state, the church and the price on the price tag.
The church lost its power a long time ago, the state is struggling with incompetent and plagiarizing politicians, and now the price tag is also about to fall.
Norwegians have started haggling.
Fit to frighten
The interest rate has gone up. The price of food has gone up. Even house prices have gone up. So to speak, the only thing that hasn’t gone up is the price of frozen shellfish, like shellfish according to Statistics Norway decreased by 0.2 per cent last year.
What do we do when the wallet curls up like a purse in ice-cold water? We do what people have always done: We negotiate. In an NTB case from August, consumer economist at DNB, Silje Sandmæl, recommended that people “negotiate mortgage interest rates, see if you can get a better price on insurance, look at electricity contracts, telephones, TV subscriptions and streaming services”.
If you are smart, you can save thousands.
Thus haggling has become it new folk sport. Suddenly everyone is looking for a better deal. Here at work too, haggling is a talking point: One had called Aftenposten, asked for a “better offer” on the subscription package and got it. Another says that she canceled the subscription to the alarm at the house. The next day they called with a new offer: NOK 400 less per month than she was paying previously.
But these are new beats. That Norwegians cannot bargain has always been an established truth. We can’t and we don’t want to. A survey Ipsos carried out for DNB in 2022 showed that 71 per cent of those questioned rarely or never haggle on price in Norway. 22 percent haggle occasionally. Only four percent always haggle.
There should have been more, says Hallgeir Kvadsheim: “There are profitable telephone calls to make, but there are not that many who make them”.
DISCUSSING: Jens Ulltveit-Moe and Mímir Kristjánsson have disagreements about Norwegians’ finances during NHO’s annual conference. Video: Anniken Aronsen / Dagbladet TV. view more
I have called him for bargaining tips. Especially when it comes to interest on the mortgage. “It’s a bit unfair,” he says. “You tend to think that you have the best interest rate, especially if you have been a customer of the bank for a long time. But the fact is that it is those who haggle often who have the best interest rate.’
I myself can’t even haggle for sugar bowls at Finn.no. Is it the case that I can just call the bank and ask for a better offer? No, says Hallgeir Kvadsheim. First, you need to do your research.
If you call the bank and ask for a better offer, chances are you’ll get a standard defense pitch about why this is the right interest rate for you. What you have to do is make it likely that you can get a better offer elsewhere. Kvadsheim recommends comparing the prices on finansportalen.no and then contacting the bank.
This may work for banks and electricity suppliers, but what about the slightly more difficult shop haggling? Firstly: Where can you really haggle? As usual, Reddit has the answer here: You can haggle in furniture stores, car dealers, tire shops, electronics stores. Actually everywhere where the price is high and there is a margin to go on. Not in the grocery store, in other words.
I ask a third colleague, legendary because she once haggled for half price on a hotel room, for tips on everyday splurging. “You don’t care!” she says, throwing out her arm. “Remember: You have to pretend you don’t care, you don’t need the item, you only want it if the offer is good enough.”
Sorry, Halvdan Sivertsen
That Norway traditionally have no haggling culture, is mostly attributed to the great trust we have in society. We trust that the price on the price tag is the correct price. But when the banks make billions in profits, at the same time as Norwegian households are struggling, the joints crack. This week even Jonas Gahr Støre advocated that people should use their consumer power in the face of high loan prices. “You have to go and check what you pay in interest, check what other banks can offer, and use the power you have as a customer. We need competition in the banking market. Consumers have the power to switch banks,” said Støre.
Out and haggle.
2024-02-07 22:15:11
