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Please. You obviously don't know squat about lay aways-and it shows. It means paying for merchandise in installments until it's paid off. Simple really. Try it sometimes, see how the little people cope./s

[newgeezer]

You obviously don't know squat about lay aways

I have always known layaway is nothing more than a place for people to store their hoped-for purchases and to accumulate their savings until such time as the savings equal the price of the purchases. Then, they get to take the purchases home.

You were comparing layaways to various loans. Layaways are not loans. If they were, the people would get to take the purchases home at the beginning of the payment stream, instead of having to wait until the end.

So, if Wal-Mart eliminates the layaway option, people who would use layaway need only find another place to store their payment stream, right?

What is so hard about that? With or without layaway,

• they can choose what item(s) they need to save for.
• the payment stream is the same (put money toward it when they can), and
• they take the item home after they accumulate enough cash to pay for it in full.

The reason layaway exists is to give people a way to avoid what you termed "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Once they decide what is truly necessary, they put those items (call them "Peter") in layaway, right? In doing so, they are saying Paul is less important than Peter.

Thus, layaway offers a convenient way of imposing discipline on one's own spending habits. Unfortunately, it costs stores money to offer it, and that translates to higher prices for everyone (and that hits poor people the hardest).