It’s always a great feeling when you need something, like a product or service, and the supplier is willing to cut you some kind of a deal. While it won’t work with everything, you might be surprised to learn that the following 5 things are negotiable.
- Warranty agreements
Normally when you purchase a piece of equipment or device for your business, the warranty (if applicable) will be included with the sale unless you opt out. The terms of that warranty will be detailed in the accompanying paperwork and most people just accept the standard warranty as-is. However, depending on the manufacturer and where you’re making the purchase, it might be possible to negotiate your warranty terms.
If you’re wondering why you might want to negotiate, it’s because most standard warranty terms are crafted to benefit the business and not the consumer. It’s rare to find customer-centric warranties. For instance, they don’t usually cover downtime and that’s a major source of lost revenue. If you can negotiate with a supplier to cover some of the downtime costs, you’ll be ahead of the game.
Warranty negotiations are most likely to be successful with high-ticket items, when your business needs to purchase multiple units from the manufacturer, or there’s a good chance you will influence others to purchase from the company.
- The price of coffee
This one depends on where you’re buying coffee, but if you’re a beloved regular at a local coffee shop and happen to be short on change for your morning coffee, don’t hesitate to ask for a discount. Most of the time, local coffee shops love their regulars so much they’ll be more than happy to give you a free coffee on the house if you forgot your wallet or come up short. Just don’t try this at big chains because most of the employees don’t have the authority to give discounts.
- Medical bills
You may have noticed that medical bills can be sky high and are often filled with line items for services you didn’t even receive. Some charges are ridiculous, like $50 for a single pain killer when you can buy a whole bottle of the same brand for $5. There’s no doubt that medical facilities overcharge for services and it can be painful to pay those bills, but you may not realize your medical bills are negotiable.
Some people negotiate the cost of their medical care prior to receiving treatment. For instance, they’ll ask their doctor or dentist what the base cost is for a certain treatment, and then offer a reasonable premium above that. Sometimes it works well, depending on who you’re negotiating with.
You can also hire someone to negotiate your medical bills after the fact. Many of these services are able to lower medical bills by 30-50% when you can pay a lump sum that same day.
- Training and learning sessions
Whether you’re trying to learn a new language, get fit at the gym, or get better at a particular sport, your sessions are likely negotiable. It depends on who you’re paying, but most tutors and personal trainers running their own independent business will negotiate lower per-session rates when you buy a package deal. For instance, one session might cost $40, but you can buy a package of 8 sessions for $240, which will save you $80.
If you do negotiate the price of sessions with a personal trainer or tutor, remember now to lowball them an offer that devalues their services and expertise. Their services are valuable and it’s important to respect their right as a business owner to make a profit.
- Annual fees for rewards credit cards
When you have a rewards card, there’s usually an annual fee of around $100. Some people have found that their credit card company is willing to waive the fee by simply calling a month before the fee is due and making the request. The catch is that not every company will grant this type of request, and those who will waive the fee require that your account be in good standing with on-time payments.
It doesn’t hurt to negotiate
Although not everything in life is negotiable, it doesn’t hurt to try. If terms and agreements or high prices don’t work for you, make a request for something different. At worst, your request will be denied. At best, you’ll get yourself a better deal.
Iran vs Israel: What Happens Next Now That Shots Have Been Fired?
In October of 2023 in my article ‘It’s A Trap! The Wave Of Repercussions As The Middle East Fights “The Last War”’ I predicted that a multi-front war was about to develop between Israel and various Muslim nations including Lebanon and Iran. I noted:
“Israel is going to pound Gaza into gravel, there’s no doubt about that. A ground invasion will meet far more resistance than the Israelis seem to expect, but Israel controls the air and Gaza is a fixed target with limited territory. The problem for them is not the Palestinians, but the multiple war fronts that will open up if they do what I think they are about to do (attempted sanitization). Lebanon, Iran and Syria will immediately engage and Israel will not be able to fight them all…”
So far, both Lebanon and Iran have directly engaged Israeli military forces and civilian targets. Syrian militias are also declaring they will once again start attacking US military bases in the region. In my article ‘World War III Is Now Inevitable – Here’s Why It Can’t Be Avoided’ published on April 5th I noted that:
“I warned months ago…that the war in Gaza would expand into a multi-front conflict that would probably include Iran. I also warned that it would be to Israel’s benefit if Iran entered the war because this would eventually force the US to become directly involved. To be sure, Iran has already been engaging in proxy attacks on Israel through Lebanon, but Israel’s attack on the Iranian “embassy” or diplomatic station in Syria basically ensures that Iran will now directly commit to strikes on Israeli targets.”
Iran did indeed commit to a large scale missile and drone based attack on Israel, a situation which has had some curious consequences. Of course, US naval forces aided Israel’s Iron Dome in shooting down the majority of drones and missiles sent by Iran. However, even though there are several videos showing that some cruise missiles hit their targets, the Israelis have been reticent to admit that any damage was done.
I suspect it’s because the cruise missiles struck military targets instead of civilian targets and Israel doesn’t want to release any information on what was hit. Iran’s drones were likely meant to act as decoys for anti-air defenses. They are much cheaper than the missiles used by Israel and the US to shoot them down.
Whether or not these strikes had any real affect on Israeli offensive capabilities we’ll probably never know. What we do know is that Israel’s counter-strike was much smaller than most analysts expected. Does this mean that the tit-for-tat is over and both sides are going hands-off? That would probably be the smart decisions, but no, that’s not what’s happening here.
Israel’s limited response was likely due to a lack of clarity on how much the US government under Biden is willing to participate in the war during an election year. What we will see in the next six months is a steady escalation towards winter, followed by new bombardments with far more extensive destruction than we recently witnessed. In other words, spring is just the dress rehearsal for what will happen in winter.
Here are the most probable scenarios as 2024 rolls forward…
Air Strikes On Iran
I have little doubt that Israel will commit to extensive aerial strikes on Iran this year or very early in 2025, and we’ll see very quickly if Russian air defense technology sold to the Iranians is effective or ineffective. Iran’s drone program may be useful in helping to even the playing field against Israeli fighter jets, but then again, the technology gap could be extensive.
The Israeli public position will be that their strikes are focused on taking down any existing Iranian nuclear labs. There is no solid evidence that Iran has made much headway in developing nukes (they might have dirty bombs), but the notion of nukes is more than enough in terms of public relations and justification for the war.
Iran Blocks The Strait Of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz would be at the top of the list of primary targets for Iran. It is the narrowest point of access to the Persian Gulf and oversees the passage of around 25%-30% of the world’s total oil exports. Blocking it is relatively easy – All Iran has to do is sink a few tankers into the shallow waters or destroy enemy ships passing through, creating a barrier that will make transport of oil impossible.
This would also make naval operations for Israel or the US difficult. Clearing obstructions would take time and expose forces to Iranian artillery which can be fired from up to 450 miles away. Once artillery is locked in on a narrow point or pasage, nothing is going to get through. As we’ve seen in Ukraine, a blanket of artillery fire is essentially unstoppable.
Anti-ship missiles wouldn’t even be necessary and would probably prove less effective, unless they are hypersonic. Iran can also utilize its small fleet of diesel submarines to deploy naval mines in the strait.
Once the Hormuz is disrupted and global oil shipments slow down the US military will join the war if they haven’t done so already.
Israeli Attack Leads To Ground War With Iran/Lebanon
A ground war between Iran and Israel is inevitable if the tit-for-tat continues, and much of it will be fought (at least in the beginning) in Lebanon and perhaps Syria. Iran has a mutual defense pact with both countries and Lebanon is generally a proxy for Iranian defense policy.
Iran will have active troops or proxy forces in all of these regions, not to mention the Houthis in Yemen striking ships in the Red Sea. There are questions in terms of how Iraq will respond to this situation, but there’s not a lot of love between the current government and Israel or the US.
The Iraq government did not initially condemn the attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7th and has voiced support for the Palestinians in Gaza. It’s unlikely that they would willingly allow the use of their territory for projecting an offensive against Iran. The use of Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti territory is possible for invasion IF the US gets involved, and the Persian Gulf would be a primary point of attack. But, both the US and Israel lack enough regional bases needed to project large scale ground forces into Iran (keep in mind that bases in Afghanistan are now gone).
Turkey is another staging ground for US forces but they certainly don’t like Israel, meaningTurkey is going to be off limits. Like Iraq, I think it will be difficult to convince Turkey, a vocal defender of Gaza, to support an invasion force or exploit their border for operations.
What about Pakistan? No, not a chance. It’s important to remember that many of these nations have worked with the US in the past, but they have angry populations to deal with. Support for an attack on Iran could lead to civil unrest at home.
The war would mostly be fought by air and by sea with US and Israel seeking to dominate the Persian Gulf. A lot of the ground fighting will be done in neighboring countries. A direct invasion of Iran would be an exhaustive affair with mountain terrain that must be reached by going through allied territories.
Can it be done? Yes. Could the US and Israel/allies win? Yes, as long as the goal is destruction and not occupation. Would it be costly? Absolutely. Far too costly to be acceptable to the western public these days, and a war that would require extensive military recruitment or a draft which Americans in particular will not tolerate.
Gas Prices Skyrocket
Think gas prices are high now? Just wait until 25% of the world oil exports are locked out of the market for months at a time. We might see double the prices at the pump; perhaps even triple, and that’s not counting the inflationary conditions already ongoing in the west.
This would be a disaster for the economy as energy prices affect EVERYTHING else. Costs on the shelf will climb right along with oil.
Military Draft And Attacks On Liberty Activists
Below the surface, there are many benefits to expanding the war in the Middle East for the globalists. War can be blamed for the inflationary collapse they created. War can be used as an excuse to implement even more aggressive censorship standards in Europe and the US. War can be used to create a military draft which will trigger great unrest in the US and some parts of the EU. War could invariably be used to rationalize martial law. And, it could even be used to stall or disrupt elections.
At bottom, the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East and the many other regional wars that will probably erupt in the next few years have a cumulative effect that causes confusion and chaos. All that is needed is a short period of disarray and a lot of economic panic and the public may even forget who created the mess in the first place Liberty activists caught in the middle of these events will take action to defend their freedoms, and I have no doubt we will be accused of “aiding foreign enemies” or working as “agents of the Russians, Iranians, etc.”
Russian Involvement And World War
Given that NATO has seen fit to engage in a proxy war in Ukraine it makes sense that Russia would return the favor and engage in a proxy war in Iran. Don’t be surprised to see a lot of discussion in the media in the coming months about Russian “advisers” in Iran as well as Russian weaponry. Russia already has military bases in Syria and defense agreements with Iran. It would appear that the US and allies are being set on a collision course with Russia that will lead to direct kinetic interactions.
At this stage world war will already be well underway. Russia and the US may never actually try to strike each other’s territory and nuclear exchange makes little sense for anyone (especially the globalists who would lose their financial and surveillance empire in the blink of an eye) but they will be fighting each other in regional wars in multiple spots across the globe. It seems to me that this process has already been set in motion, and once the avalanche starts, it’s very hard to stop.
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This is brother MO i told you all WW3 starts from Iran and already did will soon Israel EMP attack Ayatoolahs. I ask yuo all we are childrens of Cyrus the great and Ayatoolahs occupied by PLO
supporters in Gaza. We ask Israel before Iran make more atom bombs finish job EMP attack now nnow or this is last windows of opportumity will be clsing soon? Iranian people dancing in thier homes. If we have seen fake demonstrations by Afghanis and some supporter of terrorist regime in Iran are paid fake demonstrations . Also PLO students in USA closing freeways etc are supported by the terrorist regime of Ayatoolahs. 100 PLO demonstrators were arrested who brings them out paid the
bails. Terrorist regime of Iran . They chanting in farsi hands of Iran . Since when PLO speaks Farsi?
The eclipse of sun April 8 2024 war and destructions quakes of California and North West is closer,
Dubai under water by cloud seeds a new high tech that NASA is built to bring destructions at finger tips to any where? God bless USA and we need be unite and do not take bait Globalist British imperalism.No to Civil war2 ?
It’s a skill far too many people lack.
After reading a jobs board I realize the extent this inability costs everyone.Poster didn’t have sense enough to post firm beside pay requested.Instead applied to a position with a salary range.Rather than negotiate she blew it off.Instead she went to the jobs board and blamed another poster for her inability to bargain.Heres the laugh it was for a 90000 to 125000 us dollar job