Lay-Away?

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toggleswitch2

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OMG IT'S BACK! It's offered by K-Mart,right now, today, this century! Just saw it this second in a television commercial advert.

For you young-ins' this was how retail stores roped you in to a purchase before there was (massive/avaialable) consumer credit (Read: Visa, MasterCard [formerly known as MasterCharge], Discover AmEx, etc.

A small amount is put towards the puchase price each week until the item is paid-for, and then taken. GENIUS. Gets you in the store(presumably) each week!

LOVELY. Now we appear to be in a full-blown recession, shrinking of consumer credit and all kind of "fun"stuff to follow.

As a reminder (pretty please with my cherry on top) there is no need to say "Democrat" or "Republian" in this thread and spew ideolgies. hate or blame. Let's deal with WHAT --IS--- NOW and how to fix going forward. TYVM

 
Layaway

I did this a couple of times in the store when I was open, mainly with the Miele vacs. Like you say Toggles, it got them in on a regular basis. Those people took damn good care of their vacuums once they got them, too.

I also signed up for a financing program that was arranged through Miele, but to be honest I never offered it unless the customer specifically asked. The only two people who ever asked for it had no other means (cash, checks, personal credit cards) to buy the vacuum, and their credit was denied. They shouldn't have been thinking about a $1200 vacuum in the first place.
 
Toggs honey...Kmart has had layaway for a couple of years now. Pay Attention! Alot of people like myself dont use credit cards anymore. If I dont have the cash I dont buy it til I have it...just that simple. Makes life simple as well. But what sucks is that if you dont have a credit card you get penalized with your FICO score. And that shouldnt be that way. But it is. So layaway is the thing that lets people get what they need by paying a bit at a time until its paid off...makes sense.I think that more companies may offer that as time goes on.
 
Well it's news to me, therefore it's news! LOL

LOL. Sorry. Blonde roots. Where the hell are K-marts anymore anyway?

You may begin spanking now.
 
~But what sucks is that if you dont have a credit card you get penalized with your FICO score.

I sold a house. Have no mortgage and have no HELOC (Home-Equity Line of credit....all PAID-OFF IN FULL.

I have two credit cards with the same bank. Differed at first then due to merger/succession, VOILA, same bank. One has a ZERO balance and is used for montly billings only: AOL, EZ-PASS (road tolls) etc.

Then I have another with a balance. Because they say I went over my creidt limit, I got a punitve interst rate. Then the interest charges AGAIN put me over my limit! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, SO the banks being what they are my available credi shrunk to a samll amount on the "empty" card, and the puntive rate card offers me credit galore. In this way I can't transfer my balance to the lower itnerest rate card.

So I went to apply for credit (with a another instituion) to transfer a balance and guess why I was denied). Oh honey I never missed a payment or was a minute late through 1.5 years of unemeployment and being a full-time student lately.

BUREAU REPORTS LACK OF RECENT MORTGAGE LOAN INFO OR LOW MORTGAGE BAL.

BUREAU REPORTS LOW CREDIT LINES ON REVOLVING ACCOUNTS.

WTF?
 
I've never bought a vehicle on credit. Always paid cash. But then the only vehicle I ever bought new was a motorcycle back in '83. Only debt right now is a home mortgage with 10 years left on the dial. Pay off the credit card balance each month. For some reason my limit is very high... but I've never gotten remotely close to it.

I do remember Mom using department store lay-away when she was raising a family as a single parent on a clerk's salary. Somehow she managed to put away a small fortune over the years, never have figured out how she was able to do it. She got a credit card in her dotage, her banker more or less pushed it on her, and then she would call me and ask how much she really had to pay on it. I had a difficult time to explain to her how it worked - that she should pay it off in full, that the "minimum payment" wasn't going to be the end of it, and it was really a high interest loan. Once she heard the term "loan" she quickly decided to cancel the card. Like many children of the Great Depression, she was very conservative about money. Don't think she ever took out a loan on anything.

Anyway, K-Mart isn't all that bad. They have a particular type of laundry hamper - sturdy plastic that doesn't fall to pieces like the Rubbermaid crap - that I like. And they have a smattering of Kenmore appliances in their stores now. But you're right, the aroma at the entrances to the stores isn't always that great. Although I think some if not most of it comes from the customers and/or the checkout personnel.

For a while KMart was carrying Martha Stewart's gardening tools/supplies. Some of it was quite unique and quite good. I still treasure the Japanese style hand hoe that she stocked. Really indispensable for weeding around desirable plants. The worst thing about her fall from grace was how most of her more imaginative and useful products seem to have disappeared from the shelves.
 
Saw Martha's show the other day, don't think it was a repeat, and she was showing some of her garden tools including the Japanese style hand hoe you mentioned, still available it seems. She said it was her fave. I'd get one but I really try to do all my gardening from standing up these days.. my back can't handle it.
 
I love K-Mart!

I don't think K-mart ever gave up on layaway. I remember buying a TV on layaway from (I think) K-Mart back in the 80's. Couldn't get credit to save my life, so it was that or nothing.

Right now, I'm buying a really fun lamp on layaway from a local antique store.
 
Well, I have to admit I'm old enough to remember when shopping at K-Mart wasn't done in disguise! Then, about 15 years ago they seemed to just give up and let everything go to pot. At least in this area. Stores became dirty, poorly stocked and lack of help. The ongoing joke here is that you have to read the Sunday paper early and get to the K-Mart when it opens if there is anything you want. Otherwise, it's out of stock and could be years before you can redeem the raincheck. I'll agree they are no Target but I don't see where K-Mart ever aspired to be. And, as far as prices go, most everything that can be purchased at either K-Mart or WalMart is cheaper at WalMart. Not everything, but enough that many people don't even bother to comparison shop. Too bad!
Roger
 
Petek,

Well, maybe my local KMart is a bit understocked (it's never really impressed me in that department), so I might have to go search out a bigger one to get the cool Martha stuff. But I bought several of the hand hoes when they were available so I'm set for life with those ;-). I wish she'd bring back the big woven wood bushel baskets. Those are great for collecting fruit etc. from the citrus trees. I gave one away full of limes a while ago, and the other one finally rotted away in the back yard. Haven't seen one at KMart again since then.
 
...and it's been there for YEARS!

What REALLY REALLY REALY shocked the bejeezus out of me was a Kmart in midtown Manhattan- accessible from INSIDE Penn Station which is the Long Island Rail Road's main terminal. This is a major commuter railway to points east of New York City.

I honestly thought it would never last. So many window-shop at nearby Macy's but buy in Conways (discount store)and K-mart..all right there within a block or two of each other.

In Conway's you EXPECT lay-away!
 
K-Sears

has always had lay-away. They are just advertising it more now that Wal-Mart did away with theirs a few years ago.

Lay-Away is a great way to do Christmas shopping, lock in the prices, not run up the MasterCharge; and have a place to store your goods until just before Santa comes. They do charge a set up fee, and a monthly maintenance charge now that is a % of your purchase.

Lytton's Appliance will allow you to lay-away. When I bought my stove I gave them $400 down and they ordered it in. I then paid $100 a month until it was paid and then they delivered it. No Interest.
 
I think it's great they contine to have lay away..I wonder if Wal Mart is kicking themselves for doing away with it. K-Mart became really trashy here and pertty much no body wanted to shop there..when they restructured with Sears they closed several stores...the one store they have now is actually pertty nice...I remember when I first entered the work force...I would walk a block down the street to the K-Mart...Red Grill....a Veggie plate was $1.59...that was 3 veggies and a wedge of cornbread...I cant remember if I though spending a 1.59 for lunch was expensive or not...I was also hooked on cheap novels..I'd buy at least one a week at the K-Mart....I should shop there more often..it's just out of the way from where I live and work now. I've always thought of K-Mart as a step up from Wal-Mart...but below Targot.
 
I remember alot of the stuff we bought at the K-Mart was bought on Lay-Away, I just bught a new grill there 2 years ago on lay-away. Back in the Early 90's when my mother didn't work because my brother and I wern't in school, If we needed anything at the K-mart we would put it on lay-away and everyother tuesday was payday for dad. Since this was in the years before direct deposit payroll we would be at The Washington Hospital by 9:30am because on payday parking was at a premium because everyone was there to pick up their pays. We would then go cash it at Integra bank and off to K-Mart to pick up what was on lay-awayand have lunch in the K-Cafe which was in the back of the store between shoes and hardware. then across town to Hills which was on the mall. We would then hit the Foodland, Giant Eagle, and Shop N Save for groceries to buy sale items at each store and of course we would use coupons . This was when Wal-Mart was new to Washington and we were not permitted to shop there because dad is a union employee and Wal-Mat is non union. Our K-Mart closed it's doors in early March of 1996 and still to this day I can recall the smell of that store and the setup and could tell you where everything was in that store. The last thing I bought there were two boxes of red christmas bulbs which I still have.
I miss my K-Mart but I do drive out of my way to shop at a different K-Mart but it is not the same as the K-Mart in Washington, Pa

Sam
 
I used Lay-Away at Robert Hall (Remember those?) to buy a suit when I was in High School. It was convenient for me at the time.

I usually pay our credit card bills via electronic payments from our bank. Our MasterCard bank sent us a letter reminding us that starting in June, they will be adding a $19.95 surcharge for electronic payments. The only way to escape this is to send in a check via the U.S. Postal Service.

They just keep trying to squeeze every last cent out of us!
 

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