December 21, 2013

A Shopping Trip

Essay : [A Shopping Trip]

English Essay on "A Shopping Trip"


A Shopping Trip

During the last term holidays, a friend of mine, who lives in small out of the way Kampong, came to stay with me. A few days before he had to leave for his village, he requested me to accompany him on a shopping trip in our town he had to buy some cloth and a few articles of house hold use.


My friend was totally ignorant of what one must know and do in order to make a profitable purchase. I, too, had done little of the kind of shopping he had to do I had never bought anything other than books and stationery. Cloth and other such things had always been bought by my parents or by my elder brothers and sisters. It so happened, that day' that none of them were available to help us.


We drew up a list of the various types and lengths of cloth, and all of the other things we were going to buy, and set off for the central parts of the town, where most of the shops are situated. Knowing that most of the shopkeepers quoted much higher prices than those they would ultimately accept, we decided to explore, the whole market before making our purchases.(4essay.blogspot.com) This would give us an opportunity not only to find out where we could buy our requirement at the most competitive prices, but also where certain articles of the best quality.


My friend had a pocket note-book with him. We examined a few articles in every shop we entered and enquired their prices before leaving the sh.op. As soon as we came out, he put down the prices quoted in the note-book.


As we went from shop to shop, we found them well stocked. It was my first serious visit to most of these shops, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was nothing that one wanted to buy, which was not in stock in one shop or another. Goods of all descriptions, sizes, qualities and countries of origin, had been displayed side by side. Almost every shop was crowded with customers.


Most of the shopkeepers quoted outrageous prices for their merchandise while the customers offered to pay ridiculously little for them. After quarrelling and haggling until they were practically too tired to speak any more, they agreed at some prices, which was far below those quoted at first and equally above those offered in the beginning. Of course, my friend did not fail to make a note of such prices, too.


By the time we had visited the last shop in the market, we had collected the most reasonable prices of all the things we had to buy. On our way back, we only called at those shops where we hoped to get the best possible things at the lowest possible prices. If a shopkeeper quoted an unreasonable price, we reminded him that we had seen him selling the goods in question at a much lower price he would then, let us have the goods at our prices.


I think the shopkeepers are as much to blame for quoting the prices, which are too high as the, customers who would not trust them, however reasonable they might be. Perhaps, the best way to put an end to this disgraceful practice of haggling over the prices is for the dealer to fix the prices for all goods, allowing only reasonable profits for themselves, and to refuse to sell at the prices below the fixed ones. The customers should refuse to buy from those Shopkeepers who at first quote unreasonable prices and then accept much lower prices.

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