Sign Of The Times...The Return Of Layaway...

[SteyrAUG]

Big Box Retailers Get Back In Layaway Business (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44963459/ns/business-consumer_news/t/old-way-shop-holidays-new-again/)


Have you noticed all the signs for layaway programs? In these tough economic times, an old way to buy holiday gifts is making a comeback.

Decades ago, it was a really popular way to pay for things in small installments. Well now, it’s back at major retailers all over the country and some customers say the timing couldn’t be better.

Of course, layaway never completely disappeared. Sears and Kmart have offered it year-round for more than 40 years. But since 2008, the number of layaway contracts at both stores has more than doubled.

Walmart, which had abandoned layaway in 2006, launched its new layaway program this week for toys, electronics and jewelry.

On its website, Walmart says, “Christmas Layaway Is Easy.” Your down payment is only 10 percent of the total purchase price. There are no finance charges, just a $5 service fee. You make small payments and have until Dec. 16 to make your final payment and pick up the merchandise.

Best Buy is now offering layaway in some states. And Toys “R” Us recently expanded its layaway program to include more products. Other big name retailers with holiday layaway programs include Marshall’s, T.J. Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory. Many small stores also offer layaway. If you’re not sure, ask.

Before credit was so widely available, layaway was the smart way to buy holiday presents. In this economy, layaway makes sense again for both customers and retailers.



More proof that the Carter Economy is back.

[jklaughrey]

Just so long as the Blue/Green Chip stamps never come back!

10092

[SteyrAUG]

Just so long as the Blue/Green Chip stamps never come back!

10092


Good lord...S&H Green Stamps. I was like a child factory worker putting those damn things in books for my parents.

[jklaughrey]

10093

[montanadave]

Just so long as the Blue/Green Chip stamps never come back!

10092

Don't read this article from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/12906405

Quote from the last paragraph:

"Not everything from the Depression can make a comeback: sealed windows in modern bank buildings make it hard for people to jump out of them. But if layaway is back, can Christmas clubs and green stamps be far behind?"

[montanadave]

Good lord...S&H Green Stamps. I was like a child factory worker putting those damn things in books for my parents.

Ditto.

Nothing more depressing than going to their little "showroom" with all that ticky-tacky crap on display and realizing you only needed another 250 books to score that waffle iron.

[chadbag]

My mom got a few things from Green Stamps. It was fun as a kid to collect them and go look at stuff.

However, green stamps never really left. They just changed forms. Technology has allowed us to have "rewards cards" that get scanned instead and the "stamps" electronically tallied for us in our "accounts."

I noticed the lay-away signs at Wal-Mart. Had to laugh at the suckers who use it.

Here is a better way (and no, I am not claiming "inventorship" of this method obviously)

Just get some letter envelopes, and instead of making a trip to Wal-Mart when you have a little money to put money towards your lay-away, put the money in the envelope. Once you have what you need in the envelope, walk down to the store, and pay CASH for the item you want. Beats lay-away any day and you save the $5 service fee as well as any extra gas money you used if you go and make payments along the way (barring a need to be there anyway).

[ucrt]

.

Need to send that info to Cabelas' headquarters.
Those turk deville's stopped their Lay-Aways a few months back on everything except guns and safes.
Really chapped me because I would Lay-Away they heck out of ammo. Those girls hated me :) I had 8K on lay-away at one point...but no more...

Oh well...

.

[pilotguyo540]

My mom got a few things from Green Stamps. It was fun as a kid to collect them and go look at stuff.

However, green stamps never really left. They just changed forms. Technology has allowed us to have "rewards cards" that get scanned instead and the "stamps" electronically tallied for us in our "accounts."

I noticed the lay-away signs at Wal-Mart. Had to laugh at the suckers who use it.

Here is a better way (and no, I am not claiming "inventorship" of this method obviously)

Just get some letter envelopes, and instead of making a trip to Wal-Mart when you have a little money to put money towards your lay-away, put the money in the envelope. Once you have what you need in the envelope, walk down to the store, and pay CASH for the item you want. Beats lay-away any day and you save the $5 service fee as well as any extra gas money you used if you go and make payments along the way (barring a need to be there anyway).

I don't think lay away is all that bad. Beats the hell out of finance fees and interest. Its 100% honest, and unlike the envelope, it is secure.

Don't get me wrong, the envelope is fantastic, but how many "emergencies," can your SO dig up to chip away at the stack of cash? Not everyone is blessed with a good spouse.

[chadbag]

I don't think lay away is all that bad. Beats the hell out of finance fees and interest. Its 100% honest, and unlike the envelope, it is secure.

Don't get me wrong, the envelope is fantastic, but how many "emergencies," can your SO dig up to chip away at the stack of cash? Not everyone is blessed with a good spouse.

That is what safes are for ;)

[montanadave]

I don't think lay away is all that bad. Beats the hell out of finance fees and interest.

You gotta crunch the numbers. And layaway has a finance fee which is, for all intents and purposes, charging you interest. While it might make sense under some circumstances, for many it's a just another way to get ripped off.

Consider the following example excerpted from an article in the NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/opinion/wal-marts-layaway-plan.html):

"Imagine a mother going to Wal-Mart on Oct. 17 and buying $100 worth of Christmas toys. She makes a down payment of $10 and pays a $5 service fee. Over the next two months she pays off the rest. In effect, she is paying $5 in interest for a $90 loan for two months: the equivalent of a credit card with a 44 percent annual percentage rate, a level most of us would consider predatory.

In comparison, even a card with an 18 percent A.P.R. would charge only half as much interest — and she could take those presents home the same day.

Then consider what would happen if she couldn’t finish all the payments. Wal-Mart would give her the money back, less $10. If she borrowed that $90 and paid $15 in interest for two months, she would have the equivalent of a jaw-dropping interest rate of 131 percent.

These numbers assume she borrowed for the maximum amount of time, two months, and put double the minimum required amount on layaway. But if that period were shortened or the shopper put the minimum amount on layaway, those rates would go up proportionately."


Ya gotta do the math.

[Redmanfms]

You gotta crunch the numbers. And layaway has a finance fee which is, for all intents and purposes, charging you interest. While it might make sense under some circumstances, for many it's a just another way to get ripped off.

Consider the following example excerpted from an article in the NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/opinion/wal-marts-layaway-plan.html):

"Imagine a mother going to Wal-Mart on Oct. 17 and buying $100 worth of Christmas toys. She makes a down payment of $10 and pays a $5 service fee. Over the next two months she pays off the rest. In effect, she is paying $5 in interest for a $90 loan for two months: the equivalent of a credit card with a 44 percent annual percentage rate, a level most of us would consider predatory.

In comparison, even a card with an 18 percent A.P.R. would charge only half as much interest — and she could take those presents home the same day.

Then consider what would happen if she couldn’t finish all the payments. Wal-Mart would give her the money back, less $10. If she borrowed that $90 and paid $15 in interest for two months, she would have the equivalent of a jaw-dropping interest rate of 131 percent.

These numbers assume she borrowed for the maximum amount of time, two months, and put double the minimum required amount on layaway. But if that period were shortened or the shopper put the minimum amount on layaway, those rates would go up proportionately."


Ya gotta do the math.

The kind of people who typically use layaway instead of credit cards to make purchases cannot use credit cards because they have shitty credit. Layaway grants those people the ability to finance purchases that they would not otherwise be able to make. Stores that offer layaway take a risk in doing so, that's product they may very well not be able to sell in the end. As such, they expect some compensation for the risk they take in offering the service.

ETA: I love how the NY Times framed the hypothetical. "Imagine a mother...." Jesus. "Mother." They might as well have gone the full monty and made her a single mother and established the absolute heroine/ultra-victim of the left.