Traffic Jams are our Birth Right

Getting stuck in bad traffic is our birth right and so escaping it is just not possible. 

Over and above this, if one stays in Delhi and works in Gurgaon, then you can imagine that such a person enjoys this fundamental right every day that he goes to work. 

What really messes this up is when traffic signals stop working and traffic police take charge. I have seen this on every occasion that such a thing happens, the backlog of traffic just increases across all roads. 

This made me thinking - What is the kind of courses that a traffic policeman goes through before he is given his posting? What are the subjects that he studies to be able to manage traffic? Has anyone of you ever paid attention to this aspect when you see a traffic policeman on the road? I doubt that we have even reflected about this for a moment. After all, we are always in a hurry and rush to reach somewhere that while he is an authority that exists whom we follow; he has never been of more consequence for us to really think about it. 

I also would not have given a thought to it but getting stuck in regular traffic jams was making me wonder on where lies the root cause of the problem. That is when I went to my marketing experience and tried to compare vehicles to stocks. 

Eureka! I had my answer. Or maybe I had a question in my mind, which needs an answer and hopefully an action. The question in my mind, which I believe is also the answer is: 

Is Supply Chain Management a part of their course? Supply Chain Managers are supposed to ensure movement of goods in the right manner and at the right pace ensuring that goods reach their destinations on time and there is no back log of stocks at the factory. 

If that is the case, then shouldn’t supply chain management be a mandatory course for all the traffic police across the country. After all, their job is also to ensure that the vehicles move at the right pace and they reach their destinations on time without creating a back log on the roads. 

I do hope that this blog reaches out to a few traffic police people, who can think and reflect on what I just wrote and see how this can be implemented. 

Ironically, this is a blog that should be written on a week day after an arduous journey, but unfortunately, it is once again the traffic jam that does not allow me to reach home on time to put a blog like this on a week day and so I had to manage it on a weekend.

Are you the fourth in line?

Imagine this situation happening on the road in Bengaluru: 

Girl on road at Koramangala: Will you go to Old Airport Road?

Auto 1: Yes, but I will charge Rs. 90/-

Girl: But the fare till that place is only Rs. 50/-

Auto 1: Your call. I will charge Rs. 90/-

Girl lets go of the auto and stops the next one.

Auto 2: I will charge Rs. 90/-

Girl tries to haggle but with no result, she lets go of the auto and stops the next one.

Auto 3: I will charge Rs. 90/-

Girl tries to haggle but with no result, she lets go of the auto and stops the next one.

Auto 4: I will charge Rs. 90/-

Without any discussion, girl sits in the auto and ends up paying Rs. 90/-

Now you can imagine the situation by assuming any city that you want/where you live. Instead of the girl, you can imagine yourself. And instead of the auto, you can imagine a cab, a street vendor or any other person you can think of.

Chances are that you would have also experienced a similar situation and by the time you reached the fourth guy, you would be so tired and frustrated that you would just give in and end up paying the same amount that the first guy was asking for.

Now sit back and reflect at this situation and you will see a few insightful things emerging out from this:

1) There was no fault of the first guy to ask what he asked for (ignore the overcharging part). He was simply unlucky to be the first in line but he set the context for the amount that you would pay.

2) You obviously knew that you are paying the fourth guy the same amount of money that the first guy was asking for but you are frustrated enough now to go back to the first guy nor is there any need for you to do so.

3) The fourth guy probably does not know that he is the fourth guy that you are encountering and that you have already crossed the limit of your patience and your negotiation skills. Had he known that, he would have probably quoted Rs. 100 instead of Rs. 90 and chances are that you would have even agreed to pay that much. So that is an opportunity loss for him due to lack of information (Though he is still earning/charging more than what he should).

4)  Had you known that you would still end up paying the same amount of money that the first guy was asking for, chances are that you would not have wasted so much time and energy and negotiating and waiting for a better/reasonable deal.

5) If you had the energy and time to negotiate one more time, who knows, the auto guy would have reduced the price by Rs. 10 or 20

So what emerges from the points mentioned above is a classic case of economics where other than two critical factors – demand and supply, there are two more dimensions that come into play. These two dimensions are: Time and Energy

Often we tend to ignore these two critical dimensions when it comes to striking a deal – small or big, but they play a critical role in the sub-conscious minds of ours.

It is not the question of an auto guy or a question of Rs. 50 vs. Rs. 90. These two dimensions play an important role across all deals and the best negotiators will tell you this that one of the tricks to get the deal in your favour is to stall it till the end, knowing fully well that the other party will give in when either he is short on time or short on energy.

So if you are the auto guy (to be read as the guy wanting to strike the deal), try and be the fourth in line and chances of getting a good price and the deal will increase significantly. If you are the victim (to be read as the guy who has already negotiated earlier and is in a hurry to close the deal now), then either try and increase the energy and time you have to negotiate the deal or just close the deal with the first guy and move on as it will give you lesser heart burn.