Reader Mihir Joshi sends us this picture of a price war in Dombivali, India. Which number would you call first? Would you assume the more expensive service is better? Or, having been schooled by reading this blog in the devious ways of mankind, would you perhaps assume that both signs were posted by the same party, hoping to lure customers with a phantom bargain?
Photo: Mihir Joshi
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. You can also watch it on 
Perhaps the repairs are indistinguishable, but the competitor’s lower price is the result of lower advertising costs, simply by having smaller signage (but even more effective per square inch, since the eye is caught by the duplication).
Which advert came first? Maybe the upper one (the one most humans read first) was actually painted second, by someone who subcontracts to the cheaper guy, and then pockets a 10 rupee profit for doing nothing?
I’m concerned the Hi-tech sign charges less…..
I take your Price War signs and raise you two lost-and-found reward signs: http://zanypickle.com/2010/03/reward-lost-ipod-touch/
In Dombivli, I will call a person whose number will be given by a friend who knows a friend who gets the work done.
The price charge will be decided on the “networking possibility” and will be around Rs 50 plus the amount of part actuals bought again in bargain from Lamington Street, Mumbai.
I’m betting on devious. I think both phone numbers lead to the same shop. Notice that both signs use the same colors and fonts.
The second number has way too many digits for me to bother calling it.
Clearly the signs have been painted by the same guy (the colour scheme, style everything is the same). Someone commented that the bottom sign costs less because its smaller. They are both porbably painted without paying the owner of the wall. India is littered with such advertisements! They come by night and by day the wall is painted. If you notice the same wall after a few months it would be plastered with election posters and what not. Clearly a case of over analysis by a few readers.