As a single mother of 3 under 5 and a waitress just in the beginning of the season.. buying things throughout the year or puting '$20 a week' in my savings are just not options to me. It isnt wasting any gas because I drive my walmart on my way home anyway.. its much easier for me to be able to drop another $20 off on my payment on my way home than it is to try to keep it in the bank... my savings account charges $5 a month if my balance is under $300. It earns no interest either. I dont make enough money for those accounts. Layaway also saves me the hassle of running from store to store to find what I need at last minute because Ive decided to pay my light bill late so my kids could have SOMETHING for Christmas. My time is limited and so is my cash. I dont know how other walmarts are.. but at mine everything is done on computers.. there are no employees to go through invoices and payment plans.. half the time you cant even get someone to the back of the store so you can make your payment. They dont hire extra people for layaway.. all they do is designate certain people to it who are working there anyway. And whats so wrong with doing something that wont benefit everyone???? Is it so wrong to help others out even if its not helping YOU? Thats a selfish way tosee things and its the exact reason our economy has fallen to what it has. You know what.. Im not a homeowner and I didnt take out loans I couldnt afford and buy houses I didnt need to make money off them. I wasnt greedy, so why do I have to HELP YOU get out of the mess?