Your title doesn't need a question mark.
So what's your approach, chief?
It's easier for me to negotiate for work than personal. I don't drive nearly as hard a bargain for personal goods. Maybe it's just being tired.
It doesn't really sound like wheeling and dealing so much as, "Hey, check out this fact: I can go elsewhere and get a better deal. If you don't give me the better deal, I'm going there." Don't retail stores advertise that all the time: "We'll beat their price or charge you the same amount."
your first paragraph also reveals your terrible bigotry - please think before you write.
Most of the big box retailers have a price match guarantee. You just have to provide proof of the competitor's lower price (ad, circular, phone call).
And now I'm mad at you for not shopping at Staples (I work there, remember?).
Yeah, most retailers do have explicit price-match policies, which, were I not a neurotic nutjob, should soothe most of my odd feelings about it.
Oh, Cagey, I thought that was a one-time modeling thing!
I have to give Staples props for having the best setup for low-to-midrange computer speaker setups. Its what really let me realize that the lowend often doesn't have the red and white stereo inputs I want so that I can use it as a portable sound system when I use a video projector.