Bring Back the Layaway Program, Walmart

To all the walmarts in the world:
Bring back the layaways, our economy is making people around the world
to lose their job's. I am a mother of 3 and when the after
thanksgiving sale's people would like to be able to put things in
layaway. I have to do my christmas shopping at kmart. I hate kmart. I
cannot afford to buy my kid's things up front. Please bring back
layaway. Thanks, Mrs. Smith

Mr Walmart. You should really reconsider!We as your walmart customers
are demanding it. You have millions of customers who have went to a
competetor just to lataway. I never holiday shopped at any other
store, until you took the layaway. I am very frustrated as I thought
that this was going to be temporary, after you seeing how much money,
and customers you were willing to sacrifice and bring it back. But I
guess you know that your the number 1 store in the world, and people
will come there anyway spend their money and you will still get paid.
But some people need to layaway and I dont think it will hurt you one
bit to bring it back. You have stores popping up all over the world,
this would be more money in your pocket and happy satisfied customers
who LOVES MALMART:(

with the state of our country now it would be great if you you brought
back your plan heck even sears has a layway plan now so if they can
why cant you. thanks carol

I think with the economy in such bad shape Wal-mart should bring back
it's layaway plans. People can benefit with this plan and make
adjustments to thier day to day spending exspenses.I as well as others
could benefit from the layaway plan that you offered.People need to
know they don't have to spend all thier cash and they can plan a
little better for thier future spending. So if you think anything of
the American economy please bring back the layaway plan.

i think they should bring back the layway it help alote of people rich
or poor alote of people doing with out thing kids doing without stuff
because people cant aford it with layways it was much easyer we could
pay a little bit each time walmart was my number 1 store but i dont
shop there no more because i would rather shop at k mart they
understan and is there to help alote of people

I agree with you totally,being a single mother of 2 kids I have been
shopping at walmart all of there lives and I loved the lay away
christman program to be honest it was the only way I could get most of
the christmas itmen I bought for my family because I could pay it off
week to week until the time,I always picked up all of my items.Now
last year and this year I have had to do my christmas shopping at
K-Mart.You would think,most of all right now the way the economy is
they would have brought it back this year atleast.They have stopped
caring about there customers(which are the majority of families
because they can get everything at once).They make a ton ofmoney off
of us and when it counts they can't help us.If I had a choice I would
not do my shopping at K-mart for the holiday,they don't have as mush
to choose from but these 2 years I have had to settle.

FED UP IN FLORIDA!!!

I don't think any store here in Toronto even has lay away. I know our
Wal-Mart used to have it but stopped at the same time as yours.
I know this is going to seem obvious, but when I was in college and
wanted to get gifts for friends and family, I used the cash stash
system. I would put all my change (mostly loonies, toonies and
quarters) into an old peanut butter jar and make a vow not to touch
it. Then on the 15th of October, I would take it out and count it.
From there I would know how much I had, and how much more I needed. I
would never spend more then $125 total, so sometimes it took crafty
ideas. One year I gave my best friend a scrapbook of pictures of the
two of us over the years. It cost me about $10 to produce but gave us
a great laugh.
Who says a kid needs the most expensive toys to be happy.
Why not start a new tradition...put a cap on the amount that you will
spend per child. Tell them they can have whatever they want (age
appropriate of course) as long as it is less then the set amount. This
really makes kids learn about needs vs. wants and to be thankful for
what they do have. Or do what my best friends family did (she was one
of 7 kids) each kid got $10 to spend on one sibling (randomly
selected) and they had to have one heart gift. The heart gift was
something that couldn't be bought at a store. She one year got a
wallet with a portrait that her little had drawn for the photo spot.
Simple, inexpensive, made her value her sister and made a memory that
lasted forever.

I used to use the Walmart layaway every year. I have 5 children (3
are now grown with children of their own). It was not only a great
way to get the shopping done early, then slowly pay it off, but a way
to hide all the goodies from the little snoops. As a family, our
income was $110K. Now, however, I find myself as a struggling single
mom. The layaway became a necessity 3 years ago. I spent about $500
@ Walmart every Christmas season. However, this year, that went to
Kmart. If you multiply that figure by even just the small percentage
of people I am seeing on this site that says they are dumping Walmart
in favor of Kmart because of the layaway...Walmart is losing MILLIONS
this season! The powers that be at the Walmart corp. should stand up
and take notice, then FIRE the execs that made the initials decision
to discontinue this program. I am sure Sam Walton is rolling in his
grave over this.
I know that layaway can be a nightmare for stores. But if you want
consumer loyalty you have to LISTEN to what people want and need and
try to accomendate.
We are in a recession, prices on everything is up. People will go
where they can to save, or at least make it affordable. This season
will NOT put Walmart out of business, and I doubt it will hurt the
overall bottomline. But the WILL lose MILLIONS to a competitor. And
any company that knowingly does that is just plain stupid.

Walmart really needs to bring back their layaway program....EVERYONE
used their layaway program not only for Christmas but all year long,
it was nice knowing if you couldn't afford to buy a new TV
(example)you could put it on layaway and pay it out till you paid it
off. Walmart was STUPID for doing away with the layaway program, I'm
sure it has cost them millions of dollars for doing so. Kmart is smart
for advertising their layaway program and I'm sure their company is
profiting greatly for it. PLEASE BRING BACK THE LAYAWAY PROGRAM
WALMART!!!

Tina
In New Mexico

WalMart release its sales and corporate figures for October this past
week. Sales seem to be doing fine without layaway.

Earnings for the third quarter rose 9.8%, and sales rose 7.5%. Sales
rose 3% for stores open more than a year, far better than most every
other reatailer. In comparison, Target was down 4.8%, Dillard's down
8%, Limited down 9%, Kohl's down 9%, JCP down 11.8%.

WalMart hired 33,000 employees in the 12 months prior to October.

There are problems forecast in the future to continue the current
growth, but WalMart has enjoyed an 18 month successful turnaround
effort.

Data Source: Nov 14 2008 Wall St Journal

Other stores have been loving it! Marshalls, Kmart, and even Sears
have taken some of Walmarts business away. Truthfully, I hope they
never bring it back.

This just in...layaway is coming back to Sears!

So there...everyone who needs layaway has another option starting
Sunday, November 16th.

Everything but home appliances and home electronics can be put on
layaway.

Good luck everyone.

I work for Wal-Mart. AND I was a Lay-away associate for 5 years. In my
store there was a full crew, with full schedules to work the Lay-away
desk. We were too busy to have a random associate to pop behind the
desk, not to mention that is the way packages are lost.
Here is the deal: We used approximately 300-400 sq feet of storage
during the non-seasonal part of the year, yet when Christmas came
around we would have to RENT Storage bins which were parked behind the
stores Lay-away door. Each Christmas we would rent approxiamtely 20
trailers, beginning in Late October, early November.
You are thinking "See how much merchandise you were selling?" the fact
is that this merchandise wasn't "sold" until the customer came to pick
it up. In my experience only 97% of the merchandise was EVER picked
up. We charged no fee to put in on Lay-away, no fee to cancel it. If
the customer, (or Wal-mart) Cancels it the customer got 100% of their
money back. The Merchandise that went on Lay-away at regular price 90
days ago is now on CLEARANCE. Walmart had paid to STORE it, Paid
associates to package and unpackage, bin, un-bin, restock this
merchandise and did not make any profit.

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?

I get the point of why Walmart did away with the layaway program but
was the gain higher then the loss. Because every year i shopped for
the holidays i used the layaway program and spent around 700-800
dollars through it. Last year without it I spent in other places.
There was no need to just shop Walmart at that point. I am a check
to check kind of person with 3 kids and a big family. It is hard for
me to save, I am not as good at that as other people. I also don't
have credit cards either I don't want to get into any further debt
then I am already in. So being able to purchase the majority of my
Christmas gifts in one place without the interest rate or service fee
was great. I was able to pay it out within three months and have tons
of gifts for my family. Also if I was able to save by the time I had
it for Christmas, especially with children's toys, most of the things
my kids asked for would be gone and I would have to wait till after
the holidays to get it. The only people that can't understand this
program and it's worth are people that have better control of their
finances and I commend you for that. But if that was the majority of
people in America then we wouldn't need buy out plans, people wouldn't
be losing their homes, the need for state aide wouldn't be going up
and the need for food programs wouldn't be so great. I wish we could
all have it under control like that but this is the reality we live
in. So with all that, I really wish that Walmart would bring back the
Layaway program.

Walmart stopped the layaway programs for two reasons. The first being
floorspace for inventory. The second is the more pertinent of the
two. People would put an item in layaway and then would drop it and
get their money back. Walmart would then have to sell the item, most
times for a loss.

Just put the money aside in a savings account and buy it when you have
enough. Same principle.

Hm. I don't think that having low income and being low class are the
same thing. You can find low class people everywhere, regardless of
their income.

As far as lay away goes, I seriously doubt Oprah has ever used it in
the past 20 years. Honestly, I have never known anyone who used lay
away. Maybe Walmart was losing money on it. If they can't justify
the program financially, then why keep it? They are in the market to
make money. If money wasn't the reason, then maybe it just became too
much of a hassle to keep it going. All in all, it isn't a store's
responsibility to provide lay away. Why not set up your own "lay
away" and save a small amount each week or month (whatever you would
pay toward lay away), and then purchase the item when you have enough
saved? It certainly seems like that would be the easier option.

K-mart is now making a point of saving that they have layaway dirning
commercials. Last night I asked my husband if he knew, if there was a
where a Kmart near us.

I agree that Wal-mart should bring back the layaway program. I have
always used Wal-mart's layaway program and I remember my parent's
using the program growing up. Times are hard these days for everyone
and layaway is the only option alot of people have. Unfortunately I
will have to do my shopping most likely at Kmart, where the service is
terrible and their prices are actually higher than Wal-mart, but they
have layaway. I am in my early 20's and have no credit which causes me
to be denied for a Wal-mart Credit card. Wal-mart says I cannot
receive a credit card due to not enough evolving credit, which is
crazy. Either way I'm stuck shopping somewhere I don't want to because
of their layaway program. It's also a convient way to hide gifts from
"little seekers" such as my husband and daughter. Wal-mart needs to
open there eyes to reality in this downward falling economic America
we live in today....

Carla K

I will be the one person who will NOT shop at K-Mart this holiday
season. They lie and are minipulative. They are not concerned with the
customers.All they care about is the money. I will hold out for
Wal-Mart to bring back there lay-away.
Angie Nibbe

I loved Wal-Mart layaway. I wish they would bring it back!! But K-Mart
will never replace Wal-Mart. Last year on black Friday I took an item
up to the register to pay for it and it rang up a totally different
price. I calmly explained to the cashier that the price had rang up
wrong. She said ok,then called the manager. The manager said no way.
He said there was a misstake when priced & I cpold not get it for the
sale price. Then I got mad. I said I am supposed to get it for the
price that was on it. So then the manager had a girl run back and take
the sign off the item. The girl came back to the register and said
there was no sale sign there. There was a sale sign there.My daughter
and I both told them there was a sign there,the manager said well
there is not one now.I hate K-Mart!

Angie Nibbe

Fred,

I could not agree more. I've not been without a job in 23 years, in
fact I have a good job, but I always used layaway especially for the
holidays. It made good sense. Last year when Walmart did away witht
the service, they claimed it was due to lack of use, lack of storage
and there just wasn't a need when you could obtain their credit card.
What a joke.

KMart will kill you this year in sales, their commerical are working.
I know where I'm shopping for the holidays.

Fred, I am sure Kmart loves you. I even saw K-Mart is running
commericals for their lay away. They are indeed looking to please
customers like you.

That said Lay Away is terrible for retail stores.

For all the reasons others have stated below.

Glad you have at least K Mart to shop and Lay Away since you like it
so much.

Does anyone know if SEARS stores lay away, or just the Kmart stores?

I know Sears use to lay away certain items years ago.

La-a-way does nothing to "boost" the economy. It does help people who
want to purchase popular toys, clothes and electronics that may be out
of stock later during the holiday season.
And other than offering seasonal jobs to some people these are the
only "boosts" it offers.

If you cannot afford to spend your money all at once beause you cannot
save it then fine use lay-a-way...otherwise just put your money in the
bank and let it collect interest, then use it to make your purchases.

I heard from some folks in my city in Oklahoma that they are bringing
back the layaway! I hope so. The day after Thanksgiving, that was like
the meeting place of the masses...you saw everyone and people you had
not seen in years and we were all there for the same thing and it was
wonderful and fun had by all! Really, this needs to be brought back!
and these wanna be I don't do layaway and save money in a christmas
fund people, will be standing side by side with us because the hubby
will lose his salaried job just before Thanksgiving and they cannot
buy junior the GI Joe with the kung fu grip because there is no money.
HA!

well...I know where I will do most of my shopping this year...KMART.
It's gotten a tiny bit better since they merged with sears.

fred, i agree with you. everytime i say that walmart needs to bring
back layaway, all i hear is christmas club this and save money through
out the year that. to these people i say, with much love: give it a
rest. some people just can't do it. there is, in this economy, a
need for layaway. i say bravo to k-mart and nuts to wal mart. i will
be doing my shopping at kmart as well.

While WalMart is not doing layaways anymore, I'm willing to bet your
bank STILL does "Christmas Club" or some other similar program. It's a
mini savings account where you put a small amount in each week/month,
and are able to take it out in time to shop for the holdiays. Or, you
can set up your own. Just open a savings account, then make a change
to your direct deposit so that $20 or so goes in each paycheck. Then
you have a nice fat bank account dedicated to your Christmas
shopping.
In addition, picking up stocking stuffers throughout the year takes a
huge burden off. My kids always end up with over $100 each (that's
$400, plus another $100 or more for hubby!) in their stocking, but I
never notice it, because I'll pick up all those things when they are
on sale. Stockings usually have necessities in them anyway, like new
socks, a new toothbrush, bubble bath.

Good luck planning for Christmas next year, and don't rely on layaway!

When stores do layaway, they have to warehouse merchandise that could
be out on the floor being sold. That costs money. The WalMart by me
actually used to have about 20 trailers sitting out back of the store
from October through January JUST to hold all the stuff people put up.
This costs them money. Who do you think they will wind up passing
that cost on to? All of us who shop there - whether we use the
layaway or not.

Secondly, it's a MAJOR expense to have stock sitting around "on hold"
that could be out on the floor being sold to someone who has the cash
to purchase it right now. They have to order and re-order popular
items when they haven't actually sold the previous merchandise yet!
Again, who do you think takes on that added expense to keep those
things in stock?

Third - don't even get me started on all the people who put stuff in
lawayay and never come get it. I've seen it happen and it burns my
butt that maybe there was a toy or game in that layaway that I wanted
to buy and would have paid cash for right then and there and it sat
back in layaway all that time and then come just before Christmas is
never picked up. The store winds up taking a loss because they have
to unload that after Christmas and usually at a markdown price. And
who will pick up that loss??

Finally, I buy Christmas gifts throughout the year whenever I have a
little extra cash. I stash them in the attic, the laundry room, at
work, at relatives homes, my car, wherever I think my kids won't look.
I still make out on all the sales, but I don't have the big bill due
at the end of the year to pull off a nice Christmas.

Poor planning and budgeting coupled with a lack of credit are not a
stores responsibility to remedy. If you don't like the financial
crunch at Christmas time, then consider some of the suggestions
offered by all the commenters here. I don't really want my prices at
WalMart raised to cover an unnecessary program that only benefits some
customers.

Do banks not have Christmas Club accounts anymore? My parents got me
started in this when I was a young age - every 2 weeks I took $5 of my
allowance and put it in my "Christmas Club" - then, in late October, I
got a check in the mail for around $100 - what a thrill!

We have had several major unexpected expenses this year and for the
most part have been living paycheck to paycheck. But we still put at
least $20 in savings every 2 weeks so that when Christmas comes we
have money to spend.

You may think you don't have $20 to spare, but if you put that $20 in
savings FIRST and then live off the rest of your paycheck(s), you'll
find that after a while you don't miss it at all.

we are putting my sons christmas/birthday(jan 8) presents on layway we
can not afford to buy it all at once (we have very little extra money
on payday) so we take that to kmart also what we are doing is instead
of everyone buying an individual gift for him when they are at kmart
they just put a little money down toward it we probably could have
just done the cookie jar thing but paople feel better putting money
down knowing for sure where its going as well as the fact that when
christmas comes i know they will be sold out

"Analysts said most retailers have already dropped layaway service as
it is expensive and cumbersome. Merchandise can be tied up for months
and employees have to keep track of a steady trickle of payments."

So, it isn't a great idea to hire a bunch of people to keep track of
who ordered what, and on which dust laden storage shelf it is located.
Go figure, that is simply shocking.

All you have to do is put money away in a cookie jar. Then when you
want something, just raid the cookie jar. When times are lean, bake
some yummy cookies. Either way, a treat awaits in the cookie jar.

I agree. Wal-Mart needs to bring back the lay-away progam. Not only
does it help people to buy their goods, but also it keeps the
christmas presents out of the house until december 10th or so.

I admit I use layaway at Kmart, I start about now and have say like 10
bucks to pay off around December 20th.

I try to save up but sometimes things come up and that money you have
saved has to be used.

For example our basement flooded this week bye bye savings.

Unfortunally layway is being taken away due to the abuse of it.

I have also leaned if you wait till December to shop you are out of
luck finding what you need.

With the price of gas, how are all of those trips to the store helping
you?

And I seriously doubt Oprah uses layaway. Maybe way back when she was
growing up poor, but not since. Why would she?

I have a hard time believing Oprah shops at WalMart or uses layway.
Second, you too can buy things by saving a little bit of money each
week until you have enough to make your purchases. That works for me.
I don't use layaway and don't put anything on my credit card I can't
pay off when the bill comes.

Ah, tis nearly that time of year again... Can't wait for the newest
batch of "Wish me Merry Christmas because my religion's the most
important of them all" letters.

I used to purchase things I knew would be more difficult to find after
Thanksgiving for my son.

I never thought about using lay-a-way to help the economy other than
giving seasonal jobs to some people who were looking for part time
work. Other than that it really has no bearing on the economy. The
money is spent either in small amounts or all at once...either way its
still being spent.

I ask this every year: how does lay-a-way help?

So far, all I can figure is that it allows people to buy something
when it's on sale and they pay for it when it's not.

Or to buy something that'll be in short supply or is about to be
discontinued.

Other than that, how does this help low income ("low class" according
to the OP) people afford things. Why can't you simply walk into the
store when you have the money and buy it then?

Fred? Anyone? Can you help me understand?

Layaway isn't what enables people to buy goods.

If you can afford to pay a little bit each week between (say) now and
Christmas, you can afford to put that little bit into a piggy bank and
go shopping with the same amount of money just before Christmas
happens. And while I'm talking about Christmas because this is the
time of year that people show up wanting layway for Christmas, the
same principle works the rest of the year too.

What layaway does do is enable people to take advantage of sales and
to reserve items that are going to be sold out by the time they get
the money together. And those are pretty good reasons to want layaway
-- although one of the reasons things are sold out is that the storage
space that could have been used to hold extra merchandise is taken up
by the layaway product.

The thing is, though, that there are downsides to both customers and
retailers to using layaway. On the customer side, what do you do if
you suddenly get hit with an extra bill you weren't expecting and
can't afford to finish paying? You cancel your layaway and the store
takes a layaway fee, which makes you even less able to afford
Christmas presents for your kids or a new oven or whatever else it is
that you are trying to buy.

On the store side, it takes person-hours (which means labor hours) and
storage space to deal with layaways. That means you've got more
people working (and being paid) to sell less stuff than you could
otherwise manage. There's also the problem of when seasonal employees
make mistakes and product gets lost or stolen, and there's the problem
of dealing with all the defaults, which can release product to be sold
after everyone is done shopping.

I realize it's too late for most of us now to use this trick, but the
earlier you can start saving and shopping, the better you can do. You
can buy a winter coat in March for anyone whose size isn't going to
change, and you can buy blocks and other toys kids are likely to want
at a lower price in January. Even with something like baby clothes
(you can get some really good deals at Gymboree if you only buy from
the clearance section, and the clothes they sell tend to be a very
good quality), a lot of parents are going to be happy with stuff the
child can wear three months after the rest of the baby shower or
Christmas gifts are too small -- so if you buy big you can't go too
wrong. Electronics and so on have to wait until the start of the
extended return policies for gift recipients, but you can buy Best Buy
gift cards over the course of the year in amounts you can manage and
then take them all shopping on Black Friday. I don't know what
K-Mart's gift card policies are and I'm too lazy to look, but last
year Target was advertising that their gift cards don't start losing
value if you hold onto them for more than a year.

You can also give "made" presents -- I recently heard the suggestion
that grandparents who don't live near the grandkids can tape
themselves reading children's books aloud so that their grandkids can
hear them whenever they want, which sounds awesome to me -- that have
a much higher sentimental than street value. I recognize that an
11-year-old girl is probably going to want brand names or at the very
least store-bought, but most of us don't have families comprised
entirely of 11-year-old girls.

You can give older kids and adults pictures of whatever it is you have
saved up to buy them even if the stores are all out, and then follow
up with the real item when it's back in stock. I realize that delayed
gratification is hard for many of us (well, it is for me), but at the
same time I think that most of us recognize that these days people
don't always have the cash by Thanksgiving.

You can even look for stores going out of business. I stumbled on a
game store going out of business a few months back and bought a bunch
of stuff for the Christmas closet.

And, of course, you can shop smart, buying the latest video game
hardware at the start of the season before retailers run out and
saving board games until the last minute -- Wiis certainly seem to run
out faster than Parcheesi.

So while I can certainly understand the attraction of layaway, and
while I understand that a lot of things happened fast this year and
people didn't have a chance to plan too far ahead, it is not true that
layaway is the only way people who have too little money and too many
needs can get stuff.

Quite honestly, I don't see it coming back any time soon, either. I
hope I'm wrong, because it's clear that a lot of people really want
it, but there are other ways.

Good luck finding the right things at the right prices this year. I
hope you get to see your loved ones light up when they open the gifts
you get them.

I am happy they brought this back. Its not only a good boost for the
holiday shoppers K-Mart also hires seasonal workers to work the
lay-a-way department.

Christmas comes around the same time every year. You can easily stash
some money each month in order to purchase your items before the
holiday rolls around.

I don't think Wal-Mart is hurting for business with the economy the
way it is to bring it back. This letter is a little too casual, almost
like an email, but I'm sure they will respond.

In my experience, layaway is not worth whatever revenue it brings in.
There are some customers who like lay away and use it in order to
purchse product and pay in installments, as it was meant. They are
the exception.

Here are some of the ways that layaway costs the store money or causes
problems:

- staff to handle the layaway transaction, packaging up and storing
the goods.

- staff to handle the inevitable cancellation, either from the
customer changing their mind or neglecting to pick up in time and the
store cancelling.

- staff to then return the goods to the salesfloor, after, of course,
checking for any missed markdowns and reticketing

- lost revenue of the sales that are missed while the product is tied
up in layaway, or from selling the product at clearance prices after
cancellation

- space not available as a stockroom or as selling space because it is
housing layaways

- customer complaints because 1) now the stuff is on sale and can't
they just have an adjustment, 2) layaway cancelled and no exception
made when customer was only a "few days late" picking up, 3) other
customers fed up waiting while the layaway customer is assisted as
they sort through their layaway deciding what pieces they really want
after all. (thanks again for tying up that product so that other
customers couldn't buy it)

I've got more, but I think I have probably expressed my opinion about
this pretty clearly.

I would suggest putting away some money, a little at a time, and just
purchsing your gifts. Pretend you are making layaway payments, then
just take your money with you.

Here we go again! :) About this time last year, we had several
letters to Walmart, complaining about the elimination of the layaway
program. A few people who work in retail were able to give insight
into how layaway programs are abused and can end up costing a store
more money than they the layaway program brings in. If I were
motivated and less hungover, I'd go do some research and paste their
responses here. However, that's not going to happen today. ;)

Unfortnately Layway, went away due to credit cards. The "please me
now" attitude of them destroyed what was once a good way for people to
put things away and pay little by little for them. I remember my
parents doing the same thing for me at Kmart when I was a kid.

People now just charge charge charge, just to feed their instant
gratification needs regardless of the cost.

Glad to hear Kmart still offers it, but I fear it too will cave in.


Good Day