Layaway Programs Increase in Stores

Layaway Program

Buy Now Pay Later. This is called Debt. This is also called Stupid with zeros at the end of it. I’m not calling people that, I’m describing the action. And I’ll be the first to say that I have made some stupid purchases in my life.  Because most of us Americans have made stupid purchases, meaning we bought an item (s) on credit, stores completely did away with a program called Layaway.

Remember Layaway?

I remember layaway from the time I was a little boy. Kmart is the store that I associate the layaway plan with. I remember we would put merchandise on layaway and make payments on it until we paid it off.  Once we paid for an item in full we were able to take it home.

This holiday season stores will be increasing purchasing options which will include layaway plans so consumers can shop early and pay for their items in full. Paying in full is an interesting concept that people are starting to catch wind of. Some stores like Toys “R” Us are only going to provide layaway on products that are considered, high ticket items. Stores that offer a line of credit to their customers are also starting to provide the layaway program since some consumers buy on store credit and end up filing for bankruptcy. Purposely doing this is called theft and these people should be arrested.

What is layaway?

Layaway is when a customer at a store reserves an item that they want to purchase but would rather pay it in payments and does not receive the item until it has been paid for in full.

Personally I like layaway because it makes people pay for something in full before they can have it. It causes people to be patient and to rethink whether they need it or not. You may put something on layaway and later decide that you don’t want it any longer. It’s harder to return opened products and that is why so many people end up keeping merchandise they don’t even want. What’s worse is that they still have to pay for it monthly since they purchased that item on credit.

The bad part about layaway for stores is that they have to stock these items at the store or warehouse and it could be months before someone pays and picks up their merchandise. It really does create chaos for a business. Plus you have to hire more people to handle layaway orders. This is usually done at a certain part of the store and not at the front. So in some ways it’s inconvenient if you are making two purchases, a cash one and another on layaway.

It’s going to be interesting to see how many will take advantage of such a plan. Paying in full is always a good plan no matter how you do it.