I've found this to be a very much cultural thing. Bargaining / haggling is quite common in Asian cultures. Since I'm originally from India, I initially was surprised to find that haggling is not an acceptable thing in the american society.

That hasnt stopped me from my efforts at haggling one bit.

My latest conquest - a free shield and case for my iphone when bestbuy made me wait for about 45 minutes to get a new connection. Even before starting with the process, I made it clear that I want freebies thrown in - else,I'll simply take my business elsewhere.