Posted on 10/21/2014 8:49:47 AM PDT by knak
CULLMAN, Ala. — The love seat and sofa that Jamie Abbott can’t quite afford ended up in her double-wide trailer because of the day earlier this year when she and her family walked into a new store called Buddy’s. Abbott had no access to credit, no bank account and little cash, but here was a place that catered to exactly those kinds of customers. Anything could be hers. The possibilities — and the prices — were dizzying.
At Buddy’s, a used 32-gigabyte, early model iPad costs $1,439.28, paid over 72 weeks. An Acer laptop: $1,943.28, in 72 weekly installments. A Maytag washer and dryer: $1,999 over 100 weeks.
Abbott wanted a love seat-sofa combo, and she knew it might rip her budget. But this, she figured, was the cost of being out of options. “You don’t get something like that just to put more burden on yourself,” Abbott said.
Five years into a national economic recovery that has further strained the poor working class, an entire industry has grown around handing them a lifeline to the material rewards of middle-class life. Retailers in the post-Great Recession years have become even more likely to work with customers who don’t have the money upfront, instead offering a widening spectrum of payment plans that ultimately cost far more and add to the burdens of life on the economy’s fringes.
The poor today can shop online, paying in installments, or walk into traditional retailers such as Kmart that now offer in-store leasing. The most striking change in the world of low-income commerce has been the proliferation of rent-to-own stores such as Buddy’s Home Furnishings, which has been opening a new store every week, largely in the South.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
They certainly don’t need a new one when they can get a good used one from Goodwill or something.
Last place I worked had lots of cars from places like J.D. Byrider and such. Sad, indeed. One couple had TV/Furniture from Rent-A-Center and a car from JDB. Plus a pot habit, which made the least sense. Instead of waiting and buying quantity at better price, they’d end up blowing for a quarter oz every couple days. [I knew their dealer and he told me.] But they couldn’t wait or the she of the pair would get ‘migraines’ although I reckon she was jonesing... Talk about piss-poor money management!
>>Nobody NEEDS a sofa.<<
Not a new one anyway — when I was in college I furnished my first apartment the old fashioned way: garage sales and milk crates.
The guy makes maybe $500 a week and they spend $110 on a sofa?
Sounds just like the people in the story. Who needs a leather couch to be “normal” while she feeds her family ramen and buns?
How sad.
I'd love a new sofa and loveseat, but I can't afford it right now - so I live with the old stuff.
And that's OK - I'm not rich and I'm not embaressed by that - I work hard and scrimp and save, and that's OK.
But a big part of the problem are the patrons who think they have to have the newest and best. The sofa in our living room was puchased at a church auction for $35 over ten years ago. It is still comfortable and serviceable. We've spent $35 or so twice on a new cover when the old one wore out, so it has cost us a rental charge of $10.50 per year counting the cost of the covers. And we own nothing on it.
>>I don’t think it is sad, it is the mentality of having to have something right now. People used to save for something they want. I used to (still do).<<
That is the ONLY way to go. I have no debt outside of my mortgage (which I could have paid in cash but at 3% interest I can put my money to other uses).
My wife and I agree: save until we can afford to pay cash for what we want.
But they’s OWED...
I grew up poor and frugal and feel rather fortunate to have done so.
It sure make a garbage economy more tolerable.
One word.....Craigslist
I’ve decorated rooms for me and entire houses for my girls that way and spent pennies on the dollar.
You can’t look at RTO costs versus regular cash price. Better comparison is making the purchase on a high interest credit card then making the minim payments for the duration. RTO still generally higher, but you do have the option of returning it.
“One word.....Craigslist”
Ain’t it wonderful?
Let’s see, when I first got married, our couch was an old piece of junk I liberated from my parents house. Same for my kitchen table, and chairs. Bed frame and headboard was a garage sale item. 27 years later, it’s still what we sleep on every night. Our bedroom furniture was what we each had growing up. We replaced it with a really nice set we inherited from my aunt.
We replaced the couch finally when we could AFFORD TO BUY a new one and kept it for 20 years.
It’s what you do when you’re not well off. Now, we can afford to buy whatever we want, yet, we still live pretty frugally. It’s much preferred over having the best new stuff and wondering every month where the money’s coming from.
By midday that Thursday, $51 of the $230 had already vanished, used for gas and cigarettes, and Abbott headed to Wal-Mart looking to spend as little as possible on groceries. She grabbed a 12-pack of ramen, some hot-dog buns and bumped into a friend, Rachel Bryant, in the Halloween aisle.
“You look tired,” Bryant said.
“My sugar levels are out of whack,” Abbott said.
Bryant nodded and then Abbott went quiet, dabbing her eyes.
“I’ve held it in all day long,” she said, choking out the words.
She wanted her living room suite NOW. NOW had a price. It's not the seller's fault for giving her what she wanted any more than it's Phillip Morris' (or Altria's) fault that she wastes money killing herself with smokes or Wal-Mart's fault she's killing herself with poor nutrition. She's grown up. She can make grown up decisions and live with the consequences.
Some people don't do freedom well.
Sounds like we need to open a rent-to-own store!
The poor, largely, can not think beyond immediate gratification and lack impulse control.
And they couldn’t just get a used sofa from Goodwill or craigslist.
Which leaves Jamie Abbott only two choices; 1) do without 2) rent to own and pay the premium price. 3) go to one of the Payday loan companies and pay interest equal to or greater than the rent to own price.
Sorry, but I see these types of business as filling a niche that others do not. Paying higher prices and or higher interest rates are the penalty paid for no credit, no bank account and little cash.
A fourth option exists but is unmentioned. Get a better job or go to school to learn how to get a better job.
Since I have been in Jamie's situation at least twice in my 72 years and never took a dime from the gubmint or charity in either welfare or unemployment insurance, I have a hard time feeling sorry for Jamie.
So? Try getting that stuff with no money and no credit anywhere else.
They provide a service, that service costs money, it’s called “Capitalism”. They are filling a need.
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