Wal-Mart Ending Its Layaway Program
 

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060914/dath033.html?.v=65

Wal-Mart Will Phase Out Layaway Program

Thursday September 14, 11:52 am ET


BENTONVILLE, Ark., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT - News) said today that, because of declining use and increasing costs, the company will phase out its layaway program as it expands other financing options. Customers will have until November 19 to place items in layaway for this Christmas season and merchandise must be picked up by December 8.


Thoughts?

I didn't even know Walmart HAD lay-a-way.

Wow. Thats too bad. I always put Christmas laways in at WalMart.

Layaway used to be a great thing...I remember when I was in college I used it alot when I was on a tight budget...but now I noticed that most of them are only 30 days instead of 60 or 90 days...so it really doesn't help much.

It's sad in some ways though...if they are doing away with the layaway b/c of other financing options...alot of people that had poor credit used layaway b/c they didn't have credit cards...which affects the poor more than anyone else.

The only point I can see in layaway is when you're buying your kids toys or something for Christmas/their birthday and have no where to hide them, layaway takes care of that for most of the time.

Better use: I put all of my "going away to college stuff" (towels, sheets, shampoo, soap, etc) on layaway. No storing the stuff in my room at home until I was ready to go, and when I picked it up the week before, it was already boxed and ready to go.:D

Me neither.

My family will be deeply affected by this. Walmart is literally the only place to shop in my hometown, and we're poor. I wish Walmart would remember the people from Northwest Arkansas that helped them when they were first starting out. We're still here...and not all of us have become international billionaires.

I'm a little peeved.

....are you serious?

I use walmart layaway for this very reason. It allows you to get all the good gifts early and never worry about hiding them at home! I have snoopy kids!

Me too! My son's birthday is Dec 11 and christmas is right after that. It is the only way to cut down on hiding the presents and and saving some too vs paying all at once since the majority of birthdays in my family are in December.

Layaway is awesome when you find something you really want but don't have the money for it right away.

This happens to me quite often.

I don't know. I was raised to not buy things you can't pay for. Hence why i'm not in credit card debt like many people.

Layaway charges a fee. During the time your stuff is on layaway, there's a good chance that it will get marked down out on the floor.At least when I worked at TJ Maxx in HS, we would not mark down your stuff. Doesn't seem real economical.

Layaway at Walmart is free, and if it gets marked down, they give you the discount.

Obviously i've never done layaway at Walmart.

But knowing that, sounds like a business decision. Layaway costs money to staff and storage space and packaging for all that stuff.

Exactly. I am, however, a big fan of credit cards-- IF you pay them off each month. I like the float. And.. Discover Card Platinum has zero fees (if you don't carry a balance)-- plus you get some really good cash back deals. You can even get gift cards instead-- some of them will even double your cash back. With partners like Crabtree and Evelyn, The Gap, etc.. it's a great deal. They even have a special Gas credit card (you can have more than one type of Discover Card free), you get 5% back on gasoline and car repairs. There's a milage card, and a student card. https://www.discovercard.com/cardmem...a-card/compare
But, I only recommend this IF you are disciplined and IF you don't carry a balance.

Back to Walmart... Not being a Wal-mart customer, (there are none near me) I don't know much about the store personally, however.. I just did a story on this very subject yesterday.

The bottom line: All is not lost for those of you who shop at Wal-mart. Some of the hot shots in the company say they're working on some alternatives. And-- right now-- if If you're a current Wal-mart credit card customer, there apparently is zero interest offers for six and twelve months.

I see both sides of the arguement but let me say my 2 cents...the Walmart I live near and go to the most often, I'll notice during the holiday season that families are putting like two shopping carts full of stuff on layaway. I mean, to me if you're putting stuff on layaway you don't have the money for it at that moment in time, I'm wondering if they'll have the money 30 days later. And I'm not talking two carts full, I'm talking crammed full of crap, every possible space used and brimming over.

I mean to me it's "keeping up with the Jones". I have to wonder, how much of that merchandise isn't even bought in the end? That is being held in layaway, so therefore no one else can purchase it.

That's the downside, Walmart can't sell the items until the 30 days are up and either all the items are paid for or not.

I'm not sure I'm making any sense right now.

A lot of people put things on layaway because:

1) If you wait for it to get reduced it ends up being gone and your daughter throws a fit because she didn't get the Bratz Lil' Hobags Playhouse;

2) People receive Christmas bonuses.

This is an extremely bad PR move for Walmart. They've got enough money to pay the staff and deal with the storage issues. This is going to make them look like they don't care about the people who use layaway.

I know a huge portion of that is what Walmart calls "Blitz Day" - which is the day after Thanksgiving, where you can get 1000" Plasma TV for 69.95, and so people load up on deals at 4:30am and put them all on layaway so they'll still be there when they actually have the $$ for them.

Oh, and I just thought of another one: I put a crib on layaway because it was the last one they had, and it wouldn't fit into my Chevy Aveo...so I put it on layaway, and paid for 90% of it, and my dad came back the next day with his truck and picked it up. Not a compelling reason to keep Layaway alive, but a semi-amusing story.

It may be a bad PR move for Walmart, but it's probably a ridiculously good business move - shifting all of these transactions to some sort of 'zero-interest/6 mo' deal on a Walmart CC will keep the same low-end buyers, eliminate overhead and allow the low-end buyer to hang themselves over the altar of bad spending habits when they inevitably run through the no-interest period.

It's exactly the same deal that turned Capital One into a juggernaut - there's no reason for Walmart not to utilize the same model, they certainly have the ability.

K-Mart still has layaway kids, so things may start to look up for them at least around here.

K-Mart left my state.

Seriously? They conciously left the state (i.e. they said "we will no longer do business in Oklahoma") or they just closed all the stores?

I know that sounds like nit-picking, but I just had a similar discussion about Burger King in Pittsburgh - some people think they left the market when actually I guess the local franchisor is in some sort of contract dispute. They're in some of the outlying suburbs.

Then again don't you have that Butt store down your way?

I don't shop at Walmart or use layaway (I had no idea this still existed anywhere) so I don't give a crap.

I really don't get the "snoopy kids" thing. If your kids can't behave themselves and just have to snoop, it's their own damn fault for ruining their surprise at Christmas. Maybe it would be a good learning experience.

Also, Walmart is never the only place to shop, unless you live in some remote tundra lean-to where there is no mail/UPS delivery. INTERNET.

When they downsized during the bankruptcy, they closed down a lot of stores which may not have been doing very well. It turned out that for some reason, that included nearly all of their stores in Oklahoma. I have heard rumors that we have a K-Mart out in Shawnee (if you know where that is) which is about 45 minutes East of Oklahoma City -- I'm pretty sure that's false though.

It could be that Wal-Mart is so popular here and K-Mart didn't like the competition (Oklahoma is a test bed for new Wal-Mart store concepts, I've heard they plan on opening 30 supercenters in the OKC metro area). I'm not sure how likely that is though. Target came behind K-Mart and opened locations near or at wherever K-Marts were located.

I with macallan....are you serious?

I agree with most of what you said, but I do want to point out that its difficult to shop on the internet without a credit card. There are some people who are unable to secure one.

Debit cards work just as well -- but I suppose there are people who don't have checking accounts.

Debit card. If you can get a checking acct, you can get a debit card.

i don't get why it's so hard for people to understand that
(1) some people use lay-a-way
(2) some people aren't able to obtain checking accounts and or debit cards

Only people who have mismanaged their own affairs can't get checking accounts/credit cards. They're not victims.

Well, and some people just like to deal strictly in cash. One of my uncles NEVER had a checking account. When he needed to send a gas bill or whatever, he got a money order. I hate that our society is forcing everyone into using plastic, whether it be a credit card or debit card.

-33
--It's the Mark of the Beast!!
---But seriously, sometimes it freaks me out.

I'm not having a hard time understanding that some people still use layaway. I'm surprised, but I understand. When someone here says they or someone they know uses layaway, I believe them.

But I think many here are expressing the idea that there are still viable alternatives to layaway, including some that Wal-Mart may put in place.

But that's because he wanted it that way, not because he couldn't open a checking account.

Mismanagement isn't always about spending your cash on booze, cars, and crap you don't really need.

My mother did exactly that when she was first divorced from my father and trying to raise two young kids while working full time. She racked up a credit card debt she couldn't afford so we could have clothes and food - silly her. :rolleyes: (Disclaimer for my poor dad - he gave us child support. Mom was a little too proud perhaps and had him give less than required b/c she wanted to make it on her own).

So, because she couldn't (and shouldn't) get any more credit cards, she often used layaway at Kmart to get Christmas presents, school clothes, new towels and/or sheets we'd eventually need, etc.

There ARE people who use it for things they know they will need in the future - not just frivolous things. And as someone pointed out, my mom's situation is probably really similar to a lot of people in rural Arkansas who got Wal-Mart off the gorund in the first place.

I dealt strictly with cash until a year ago. I've seen what credit card debt has done to people. I didn't trust myself with one, so I stuck with cash as long as I could. Then a year ago, I had to purchase something that only took plastic.

Here's the thing, though - layaway is not some sort of service that cannot be replicated. You're simply putting the item in a different location and paying over time - you don't take it with you, right?

So in most cases, people could do the same thing by simply saving their own money, until they reach the entire purchase price - cut the company out of it, and effectively replace layaway. I don't get why we talk about layaway like it's some sort of necessary or singular service.

But, aren't these people in the minority? Most of the people I know who are in debt, spent money and charged their credit cards on things they knew damn well they couldn't afford. These things were like expensive clothes, eating out everyday, and flatscreens. Also, some of them just HAD to live alone. It wasn't acceptable for them to live with roommates, the 'rents, or in the dorms. I knew a few people who had scholarships that paid for their room and board, and only lived there for like a semester or two. :confused:

I've never used layaway. I grew up poor. If we didn't have the money, we went without.

I'm so sad I never got a Bratz Hobag Dreamhouse....:(

If people live in areas that are so impoverished and poor... where they can't begin to afford basic necessities... doesn't it make sense to move somewhere where there are better job opportunities and resources?

There is a K-Mart in Shawnee, which is only 20 minutes out I-40, or you can go to Tulsa.

NO more Walmarts in the Metro! They're ugly! Oh well, I haven't set foot in a Walmart in about 2 years now. I guess I don't really have a say other than I voted with my money.