EMPIRES children: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



141 



Table 19. — Prices of articles in Tzintzuntzan 

 stores — Continued 



1 Stores: A = Salvador Reyes; B = Juan Villacafia; 

 C = Vicente Barriga; D = Jose Calvo; E = Jesus Rangel; 

 F = Jose Villagomez. 



paid, a little at a time, but never in full. In 

 order to keep one's customers one must continue 

 to extend credit; if credit is stopped, they simp- 

 ly switch their patronage to another store and 

 the entire amount on the books is irrevocably 

 lost. On the other hand, the debtor knows that 

 if he doesn't pay a little on account from time 

 to time, he can no longer buy, and his bad 

 reputation will spread to the other stores. So a 

 delicate game ensues; the buyer tries to get as 

 much as possible on credit, and to pay as little 

 on account as possible, while the storekeeper 

 tries to determine how far he can push his cus- 

 tomer without losing him entirely, what is the 

 minimum credit he must continue to extend to 

 keep him. 



Periodically storekeepers try to stop credit 

 entirely, which results in a falling off of sales 

 to a point where they must either go out of busi- 

 ness or again extend it. Jesiis Rangel, in the 

 first 4 months of the life of his store, extended 

 credit to the sum of $182 in the hope of build- 

 ing a reputation as a man easy to do business 

 with. Now he regrets it. In many cases the 

 buyer does need the credit, and will pay later. 

 All too often the philosophy is "Why pay today 

 when I won't have to pay until later," whether 

 money is in the pocket or not. 



In addition to markets and stores, a fair 

 amount of merchandise changes hands in simple 

 home transactions. Almost every day in 1945 

 a paletero, a vendor of sweetened ices on sticks, 

 came from Patzcuaro, and with his iced pail 



made the rounds of the town, selling $0.10 here 

 or $0.20 there, until his $5 supply was exhaust- 

 ed. 



Charcoal vendors from Corrales come period- 

 ically to sell or exchange for pottery. Ambulant 

 vendors of religious pictures are apt to be found 

 almost any day, particularly near the time of 

 fiestas. Bread likewise is sold informally, both 

 by outside vendors who come with a few pesos' 

 worth, and by Margarita Farias, who, with her 

 husband Alejandro, bakes plain bread (as con- 

 trasted to the fancy sugared breads made by 

 the two bakeries) to sell to a few neighbors. 

 During the mezcal season this delicacy is ped- 

 dled on Saturdays. Frequently the Indians from 

 La Vuelta drop in to exchange fish for pots, 

 or to buy outright. Always there is haggling 

 about prices, which is a part of the game enjoy- 

 ed by everybody. 



One morning while I was sitting in the patio 

 of Vicente and Natividad, an elderly Indian 

 couple from La Pacanda dropped by, looking 

 for several pots for their fiesta the following 

 week. First the man looked at an olla de a me- 

 dio, a large pot. Vicente stated his price as 

 $3.00, at which the Indian looked aghast and 

 conversed with his wife in Tarascan. Then he 

 countered with an offer of $1.50. Now it was 

 Vicente's turn to look amazed, and to justify 

 his price he talked about the high cost of glaze 

 and other items. "Why, I sell these to Alejan- 

 dro Urbano who carries them away to sell for 

 much higher prices. As a special favor I will 

 give them to you at the same price — $2.80. 

 The Indian still shook his head, "We are think- 

 ing of taking two. What price will you make 

 on that basis?" "That will be $3.00 each," 

 replied Vicente. "At $2.80 I lose money, 

 and I can't afford to do it on more than one 

 pot." More talk, and more discussion of the 

 high cost of living. Finally Vicente said, "Well, 

 so that you can't say I have taken advantage of 

 you I'll let you have the two at $5.00 — $2.50 

 each." Now that the Indian had beaten the price 

 down to this low figure he expressed interest in 

 a smaller size, a tacha. "I'll let it go for $1.15; 

 no, as a special favor to you, $1.05 but that is 

 absolutely the lowest price." The Indian offer- 

 ed $0.75, and Vicente shook his head, laughed, 

 jested about how he would lose so much money, 

 but finally agreed to let the larger de a medio 

 and the tachn go for $3.25. 



