In typical crack,pot,meth etc. street corner drug purchases how much negotiating power does the buyer have? Is it usually fixed price or does the purchaser have some negotiating power?
Also how does the entrepreneurial angle work. Is the seller selling his own inventory or is he usually working for a higher up?
I have pretty limited experience but at times I sold both pot and acid in my early 20s. We didn’t have much overhead since we grew the pot and dipped the sheets, so it was free to friends and a fixed low price to those who were going to sell it at Dead shows. They could sell it for whatever they wanted. They made a lot more than we did because acid sold for at least 10 times what they paid for it (especially if they sold it back east) but they were taking all of the risk. The prices for large quantities of pot were negotiable and we made our real money from that.
I have no idea how it works with hard drugs sold on the street.
In my experience, it depends on 2 things.
-Availability
-Amount being purchased
If you can get from more than one dealer, you can compare prices/quality and therefore find yourself the best deal. If dealer #1 is offering schwag (dirt weed) for $60 1/4 ounce, and dealer #2 is offering midi’s (mid-grade weed) for $50 1/4 ounce, of course you go to dealer #2.
As for the amount being purchased, most dealers will cut a deal if you buy larger quantities. For example. $50 1/4 of weed, $180 for an ounce, and maybe $600 for a quarter pound (4 oz.).
This is based upon my 10 years of pot smoking, but from what i’ve heard from friends/acquaintances it works that way with most black market stuff.
The OP asked about street corner purchases, and the answer is “you have no negotiating power at all.” I’m not going to stand there and dicker over price with you, and you don’t get to examine the merchandise beforehand.
I offer and you accept at the price offered, or not. Speed is the primary concern in most street corner (open air) deals.
In my experience, this is entirely accurate. The dealer always has another buyer, but you may not always have another dealer.
For the most part, there is no negotiating, not with crack, heroin and weed. Now, I have known people close to me involved in deals with pharmaceuticals and sometimes there are negotiations involved there because most of those deals are done in a house by people who know each other.
But for a regular street deal, there are so many variables for there to not be any negotiating it’s silly. There are cops you’re looking out for, traffic trying to get by, worried about getting robbed, shot, carjacked, fake shit…it’s crazy. There is no time to do any negotiating, not to mention the dealer will tell you to get fuct so fast you’re head’ll spin.
Usually the price is not negotiable unless you’re talking about close friends. However, throw in a blow job…
As has been said, at street level you have no negotiating power at all, if but for the simple reason that the person you’re dealing with would have no freedom to negotiate or sell at anything but the set price. He’d be working for someone else. You’d need to move further up the chain if you wanted to haggle.
Street deals = Definitely No Negotiation.
If you are trusted enough to be allowed to enter a dealer’s domain, you might be entitled to a bit of leeway. But I wouldn’t go 20% light unless I knew the dealer very well, as a smack in the chops, or a knock-back, can often cause offence!
There’s actually a book that talks about this sort of thing. I haven’t read it, but I read a review of it a few years ago that made it sound really fascinating: Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor.
A little off topic, the author of this book recently told a truly bizarre story on This American Life.
As has been said, at the retail level there is no negotiation. Demand usually exceeds supply. Dealers have no problem selling out of merchandise and therefore have no reason to dicker. I have seen complaints about price met with disinterested shrugs and comments like "Take it or leave it, dude,"but that’s about as far as any haggling ever goes. Dealers aren’t hurting for buyers. As has also been said, the guy on the corner (or the pot dealer in his apartment) usually isn’t setting the prices anyway.
At the wholesale level, there is more room for negotiation, but that’s suppliers selling to dealers, not dealers selling to customers.
Very much disagree here. I’ve known people closely involved in the trade (on the street–west side of Chicago). If you were a regular customer & they got to know you…they could give you a break. This is only if you buy in bulk–a full “package” for instance. You can tell them you’ll give them $110 for 12 bags for instance. This is fairly common…if they refuse, they know you’ll just go to another corner. Free market economy in action…
I don’t consider regulars buying in bulk to be quite the same things as a “street deal,” but maybe it’s just a terminology thing.
I have first-hand experience in these matters, but not in Chicago. 
Well, with the corners I’m familiar with, if you were buying 10 or more bags, the cornerboys would consider giving anyone a deal–regular or not. But if the question is whether you could negotiate the price of a single $10 bag–then the answer would be “no”…