CONSUMER GOODS 



137 



satisfactory means of determining the price of an 

 item is to interview a sample of the purchasers 

 and to calculate the average of what they paid. 

 Nobody has done this. Consequently, it is not 

 possible to report in detail on prices and their 

 fluctuations. All that I am able to do, from 

 having lived and purchased in Panajachel over 

 the course of three seasons, from having observed 

 and talked to people who are exceedingly price 

 conscious, and from having taken detailed state- 

 ments from two excellent informants, is give an 

 idea of average prices and their approximate 

 limits. 



In the long run it is in the competitive public 

 market that prices are fixed. The stores receive 

 higher prices for many items than do the market 

 vendors, but the premium must of course be 

 limited and, hence, store prices and fluctuations 

 are also determined in the public market. 



The general market custom is for the seller to 

 name a price higher than he expects to receive, 

 and to reduce it if necessary after an interval of 

 haggling. A travel-book notion that this method 

 is pursued because the people enjoy it is exagger- 

 ated. Actually, some things are never bargained 

 for: such commodities as salt, sugar, lime, bread, 

 sweets, cold drinks, fresh meats, matches, ciga- 

 rettes, cigars, etc., have fixed prices, at least over 

 a long period of time; haggling over them would 

 probably not amuse anybody. On the other hand, 

 fruits, vegetables, and chickens are probably 

 always bargained for, the reason being that no 

 two comparable items are equivalent in quality 

 and size. Nor is it true, as one writer has sug- 

 gested, that the Indian purchaser asks the price 

 and if not satisfied walks away without more ado 

 (Bunzel, 1938, ms.).'^' What frequently happens 

 is that the purchaser first examines the quality of 



"> Bargaining is not confined to the market. House-to-house vendors, 

 artisans, even many storekeepers, follow the practice. Resales noted one 

 day that It took 2 hours for a local Indian to reach an agreement about the 

 price with a Catarineco who came to buy the fruit of a jocote tree. He also 

 reports that one Sunday morning a local Indian on the way to market met 

 some Sololatecos who wanted to buy onions by the tabton. He took them 

 home: at noon they were still bargaining, and finally nothing came of it. 



A telling comment of Rosales' one day, about the question of bargaining, 

 followed a statement that corn in the Sunday market was scarce and expen- 

 sive. He adds that "The merchants became angry when the people tried to 

 bargain with them; that is how it Is when there isn't much of a needed com- 

 modity." 



More amusing is an experience of Rosales* that could be matched by many 

 of our own. He writes, "I met some Totonicapeflos with tables and chairs, 

 on their way to Guatemala; I asked the price of a table, and the eldest an- 

 swered $1.25. I said that I did not want to bargain because I was in a hurr y, 

 and that it also took too much of their time to bargain, and that they would 

 do better to ask fixed prices. He then said that he would sell the table for 

 60 cents, but when I oflered him 50, he readily agreed." 



the goods of the various merchants, the better to 

 evaluate the reasonableness of the first price 

 asked, and thus may be seen to walk away from 

 vendors without bargaining. But when ready to 

 buy, the pm-chaser does offer less than the vendor's 

 first price, and in anticipation the vendor asks 

 more to begin with than he is ready to take. Bar- 

 gaining has a genuine commercial function with 

 respect to commodities that cannot have fixed 

 values: only by the bargaining experiences of the 

 particular market day can the buyers and sellers 

 determine how much they are worth. So values 

 are fixed for a given time and place. 



The long-time tendency is to sell more and more 

 things by weight. Years ago, according to the 

 Indians, many more commodities were sold by 

 rough measure; even meat, for example. The 

 units of weight are the quintal, or hundredweight, 

 the arroba of 25 pounds, the almul of 12 or 12}^ 

 pounds, the pound, ounce, and half ounce. The 

 Government apparently succeeds in its effort to 

 control merchandising by means of fuU-weight 

 laws; only occasional complaints are heard. 

 Weighing is done by means of a balance with two 

 baskets and a wooden or metal cross bar, held in 

 the hand by a string from the center. Metal 

 weights are most frequently used, but stones are 

 sometimes substituted. Among the articles sold 

 by weight in the market Ln 1936 and 1937 were: 



Corn. Prepared pork ribs. Chichipate. 



Beans. Alligator. Cintula. 



Dry peppers. Dried shrimp. Anise. 



Coffee beans. Dried fish. Anotto. 



Sugar. Sweet cassava. Pepper. 



Rice. Sweetpotatoes. Peanuts. 



Lime. Potatoes. Beeswax. 



Meat. Tomatoes. Raw cotton. 



Lard. Huskcherries. Incense. 

 Pressed cracklings. 



There are no standard dry measures; small 

 baskets are used, or frequently the cover of a jar, 

 which is piled high with an article such as green 

 beans. The liquid measure (for honey) is the 

 bottle of about 24 ounces, and for beverages the 

 glass, gourd, or enamel cup. Among articles sold 

 by the measm-e are: 



Ground coffee. Mushrooms Aiole. 



Squash seed. Nances. Pinole. 



Garlic cloves. Small Spanish Coffee (beverage). 



Peas. plums. Cold drinks. 



Green beans. Dried Spanish 



Lard cracklings. plums. 



Tiny lake fish. Honey. 



