[yosamino]

> they will dramatically increase the starting price if you're a Westerner.

The point is that due to the large different in wealth, the increase is "dramatic" for them, but probably neglible for you.

Why not make someone's life a tiny bit better by not pressuring some some small time vendor in a country with less than a third of the GDP per capita than yours into giving up their share of the wealth that tourism is supposed to bring. Otherwise: what is the point of tourism for a host country?

Imagine making 80k/year, paying $100/night for the hotel you are now stepping out of and then haggling with someone who maybe makes 10k/year over the price of a $30 hat that you would pay $59.99 for if you were to buy it in the US and that takes $5 to produce.

I personally don't just find it rude, I find it entitled.

Negotiating prices within "those cultures" make sense when the playing field is somewhat level. Don't exoticize and take advantage of it.

> You absolutely should haggle if for no other reason than to experience their culture a bit deeper.

That is just offensive. Go to a nice restaurant, enjoy their food, see a museum, enjoy the sights. Haggling is not at the core of anyone's culture.

Imagine a Thai person going to Olive Garden for the immersively american experience of tipping their waiters - and even that makes the tinies bit of sense, because at least in that transaction money flows in the right direction.

[mekoka]

Right, so paying 15$ for a coconut at the beach of some tropical country, while you're literally surrounded by them, because that's what you're used to pay in Manhattan. I don't know if you realize how patronizing you come off as. Why buy the thing at all? Why not just give them your money? I'm serious. It's equally offensive to locals to see foreigners inflating prices for no other reasons than they can. Paying as close to the local price you can manage is part of the experience of respectfully visiting another culture. Try not to export your pricing habits and consumerism. Entire neighborhoods have become unaffordable to locals due to this mentality. If you want to help, find creative ways to spend the money. Plenty of local communities and villages would welcome your gifts. No need to disguise them behind a transaction.

[pc86]

Your last line betrays your entire point, that for some reason money flowing one direction is "right" and it flowing less (but still flowing) is wrong.

Perhaps just worry about how you spend your money and stop projecting morality onto other people whose circumstances and needs you know nothing about.

[yosamino]

> whose circumstances and needs you know nothing about.

I think the circumstances "tourist haggling with vendor" and needs "tourist wants to experice other culture" where very well established. Whether or not I know anything about this, is an assumption that you are making without knowing anything about me.

Of course how and why and where money is spent is stock-full of morality and ethics. That's not an idea that I privately came up with myself.

[bin_bash]

I always make a large donation to a credible non-profit or two after visiting a third-world country that pales in comparison to the amount I would've paid to street vendors ripping me off.

That puts my money to far better use.

BTW my wife is from a very poor country and she would laugh at anyones face for paying full price to a vendor. It doesn't make you "ethical" it makes you stupid in her mind.

[oblio]

> BTW my wife is from a very poor country and she would laugh at anyones face for paying full price to a vendor. It doesn't make you "ethical" it makes you stupid in her mind.

I was thinking along the same lines a while ago. Then I realized something, please pass this along if you want:

No, they're not stupid. They just have money and they don't care that much. You're poor (or were and that memory lingers) and stressed out and they just want to relax.

By and large rich people are as smart as poor people and are on average better educated. If they're doing something "dumb" constantly, you don't understand their world, especially this Iron Triangle of Activities:

Time - Stress - Money

any activity is somehow paid. With either your time or your stress or your money.

Poor people pay with time or stress, smart rich people convert those frequently into money.

[throw384732]

I have friends from "poor" countries and they see paying full price like paying 20% on tips.

For some it's acceptable, and for others it's not.

[oblio]

If they're still poor, sure.

If they now make a decent developed country salary, haggling in a poor country over 0.0001% of your monthly salary is probably not an efficient use of their time, but old (irrational now) habits die hard.