Stores had layaway back in them days, it was OK. It wasn't super predatory as I recall. Capitalism will forever get greedier.
this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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I remember layaway fairly well. The great thing was that there was a small fee at worst, no interest charged.
It really needs to come back. It’s far better than putting someone in interest laden debt. But debt is profitable.
Wasn't the whole point of layaway to keep the physical item from being purchased by another customer until you could pay it off? How many items today completely sell out?
Elder millennial, and I've never fully understood layaway.
Yeah, but that was back in the day when if you wanted some things they could take weeks or more than a month to have it ordered and shipped to you. It was all snail mail and next day prime delivery didn’t exist for the average person. Logistics and shipping were a lot slower. So if you paid layaway for a month you could get the double benefit of payments and not needing to wait for an order to come in. IOW you could save up for a month and then order and get your item a month after that, or “claim” an item now and make the payments.
Makes a lot of sense, thanks.
I'm Gen Z, I did a layaway on the 2 bikes (my ebike and my Kona Dew+) I've bought because I knew I would have enough money to fully pay for them soon, but I didn't want to risk those particular models selling out, and the bike shop really only brings in a few of each model due to their size.
People will never go back to not getting the thing up front plus then the store has to warehouse all of that stuff she the costs associated with staff looking after and organizing it, in a time when every place is slashing staff this will never do
But with layaway, you didn’t actually get the product until you fully paid it off right? Which I don’t think you can do with something perishable?
Yes, layaway was typically used for bigger purchases. It wasn't Klarna for a slice of pizza. And in the case of Costco, it seems that it is primarily targeted for big purchases.
But now we do have Klarna, for a slice of pizza. In the U.K., at any rate. It’s terrifying.
We still have it in Australia (called layby). I know some people who use it to buy larger Xmas or birthday presents way ahead of time and pay it off over many months.
Here are the rules and costs for Kmart for example: https://www.kmart.com.au/layby/
Agreed. I remember it being eminently reasonable. I bought a Wii and a laptop using layaway 15 years ago.
Now, we get Klarna, which will fuck you up if you can't make those payments in four weeks.
Rocket Mortgage has this commercial they run that shows some schlub walking into his house holding three bags of groceries while the voiceover talks about how it used to be six bags. Then the guy's house starts talking to him about how he could mortgage his small bit of equity ... and spend the money on fucking groceries. It's depressing to think about the level of financial illiteracy - not to mention desperation - that could lead somebody to go into debt for food. Not to mention the utter depravity of building a business around taking advantage of such people.
once i work this wiener off, then i can get to the buns!
Exactly one day after Jim Sinegal Dies:
Costco Hotdogs will never be more than $1.50.... A month, with the purchase of A Car.
Fucking TACO BELL has this in their app.....
Just Eat or Uber Eats do it as well.
Whatever happened to layaway?
Costco has Hotdogs, Costco also has 75 inch TVs...
If you have to buy a $1.50 hot dog on layaway, you've officially lost control of your life.