# What is the point of a "layaway" purchase at a store? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835 "2018-12-09T04:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/41 "2018-12-10T23:23:54Z")
> [@bob++](#): > > An alternative here is “Pay-Per-View”. Various operators offer it and it means that the customer, usually one with a really bad credit score, can buy that new 54" TV they must have for the World Cup or whatever. > > The TV has a meter on the back and you have to feed it with Pound Coins or no TV; alternatively, you buy a card that makes it work. The money in the meter can pay off the cost of the TV and can be used to buy other goods like washing machines etc. > > The downside is that the prices charged for the goods are always the manufacturer’s full price and interest rates are usurious. An individual can easily end up paying over £1000 for a washing machine that I would pay under £300 for. Around here, that’s “rent to own” and yes, the payments are E-Z, but the cost should be illegal. Rent-A-Center is one of the big players, and just for giggles, I looked at what it would cost to get a phone through them. A Galaxy Note 9 will cost $173.31 per month – $3347.66 on a 20-month contract. No voice or data plan is included at that cost, so add another $25-35 per month. In comparison, Sprint will lease you one for $20 a month, then after 18 months you can get a new phone. But, if your credit score is crap, you won’t be able to get that $20/month deal and the usual unlimited talk and text service, so paying a bit north of $200 a month for a phone and basic per-minute plan is probably your only option. Layaway may take advantage (the $10 setup fee and cancelation charges) of people who can’t save or get credit, but rent-to-own preys upon such people. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/42 "2018-12-10T23:34:56Z")
I don’t think in the US there is _anything_ like the coin-operated TV sets like **bob++** described. (And I’m not sure how that would work; does someone from the rental agency come into your house periodically to empty the meter?) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/43 "2018-12-10T23:36:07Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > They were much more common back when credit cards were something only upper-middle class & above had. Most working class people couldn’t even get a credit card, even if they wanted one. There’s a lot of overlap between this, and the fact that married women often needed their husbands’ permissions to get a credit card until the early 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/44 "2018-12-11T00:16:01Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Around here, that’s “rent to own” and yes, the payments are E-Z, but the cost should be illegal. Rent-A-Center is one of the big players, and just for giggles, I looked at what it would cost to get a phone through them. A Galaxy Note 9 will cost $173.31 per month – $3347.66 on a 20-month contract. No voice or data plan is included at that cost, so add another $25-35 per month. In comparison, Sprint will lease you one for $20 a month, then after 18 months you can get a new phone. > > But, if your credit score is crap, you won’t be able to get that $20/month deal and the usual unlimited talk and text service, so paying a bit north of $200 a month for a phone and basic per-minute plan is probably your only option. > > Layaway may take advantage (the $10 setup fee and cancelation charges) of people who can’t save or get credit, but rent-to-own preys upon such people. The same thing can be said for payday or title loans. Exploitation at its finest. I feel the same way about ads I occasionally see for “Buy your own computer - no credit check needed! Just $15 a week for 36 months!” so that way, a person who doesn’t know better thinks they have a bargain; never mind that this is several times the price of even a higher-end home computer, and is the equipment compatible with current software, etc. etc. etc.? Layaway, when used for the right reasons, can reduce the use of things like this. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/45 "2018-12-12T17:20:33Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Does it really work this way? > > By that I mean once you put $1 on layaway on an item do they grab that item off the floor and stick it in a corner waiting for you to pay it off? I work at Walmart. They physically put an item I storage for layaway. That is what the word means. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/46 "2018-12-12T19:02:00Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I work at Walmart. They physically put an item I storage for layaway. That is what the word means. Except “they”–meaning the store employees–don’t grab an item off the shelf (as the text you quoted asked), the individual shopper brings the item to the layaway desk themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/47 "2018-12-12T20:49:54Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Does it really work this way? > > By that I mean once you put $1 on layaway on an item do they grab that item off the floor and stick it in a corner waiting for you to pay it off? Not $1. At Wal-Mart, it’s: “Down payment is $10 or 10%, whichever is greater”. Most stores seem to have a minimum 10% to 15% down payment. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/48 "2018-12-12T21:39:59Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think in the US there is anything like the coin-operated TV sets like bob++ described. (And I’m not sure how that would work; does someone from the rental agency come into your house periodically to empty the meter?) I wondered the same thing. I can see how using a prepaid card would work (although I suspect people would find ways to hack it), but using coins? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/49 "2018-12-12T22:12:13Z")
IIRC, I bought on layaway twice as a teenager: a boombox and a wool topcoat. The latter taught me a very important lesson about buying clothing on layaway: buy the size you need it to be when you pay it off, not the size you need it to be when you put it on layaway. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/50 "2018-12-12T22:22:53Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Here in Oz they get called a layby, and they are tightly regulated. But they do make sense. The most important point is that you are contracting to buy a particular extant item. The store is required to put the item away, and will give it to you when it is paid off. I bought a puppy that way once. BIG mistake. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/51 "2018-12-12T22:30:22Z")
Since when do banks pay interest on savings anymore? As far as I am concerned, \<.25% is no interest. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/52 "2018-12-12T22:31:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Does it really work this way? > > By that I mean once you put $1 on layaway on an item do they grab that item off the floor and stick it in a corner waiting for you to pay it off? > > My guess is they don’t and if the item is sold off before you finish paying they just give you your money back (and probably less a fee). yes that’s how exactly it works…you take the items to the counter they ring them up you sign a paper agreeing to all the terms and conditions ie to have it out by a certain date and they keep it in the back until you pay it off and pick it up …… if you don’t you can get what you paid on it minus the restock fees and a percentage … ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/53 "2018-12-12T22:34:32Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Lol. Not even close. > > The item is usually taken off the shelf by the customer. The customer then carts it over to customer service where they put it in storage. > > Also, you can’t just put ONE dollar down. It’s usually like 10% or something. > > Also, when I did layaway some 30 years ago, you put down X amount, then you had 90 days to pay it off. And if you didn’t pay it off in 90 days, there would be fees that came out of whatever you already put down. > > At least that was the way K-mart and Wal-Mart used to do it Way back in the mid-Sixties, the toy commercials in my area (Southern California) would often have a coda at the end, informing parents that $1 would hold the toy on layaway at J.J. Newberry’s Department Store until Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/54 "2018-12-12T22:39:14Z")
actually my family hated wal-marts layaway because their cut off date is December 17th or around that time … and that was right before a lot of people got the last before xmas paycheck/bonus …… wm does that so they can sell the stuff in the last sale before xmas ……. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/55 "2018-12-13T01:03:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t think in the US there is _anything_ like the coin-operated TV sets like **bob++** described. (And I’m not sure how that would work; does someone from the rental agency come into your house periodically to empty the meter?) HP has a [pay per page printed](https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/) program called Instant Ink where they send you ink but charge you by the page. Presumably they have some way of keeping the ink from being used in some other printer… And it looks like you have to buy the printer. Although there is a free tier, so for someone who only occasionally prints things, this might be a pretty good deal. Printers are cheap and ink is expensive. Buy a cheap HP printer and then print a few pages without paying for the expensive ink cartridges… ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/56 "2018-12-13T04:28:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Except “they”–meaning the store employees–don’t grab an item off the shelf (as the text you quoted asked), the individual shopper brings the item to the layaway desk themselves. Depends on the store and the item. When I worked for JCPenney (many years ago) “big ticket” items (like stereos, televisions) only had display models on the floor. If someone put a TV or stereo on layaway they’d write it up and page me to go get the item from the stockroom and take it and the store copy of the paperwork to the lay-away holding area. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/57 "2018-12-13T04:54:30Z")
I used to do a lot of online shop (fully paid online) and pickup in store at Target, KMart and Sears. I’ve had a good amount of times that my items couldn’t be found right away because they were incorrectly placed with the layaway items. A few times I’ve even had the cashier try to ring me up and I’d have to remind them that I already paid in full online. Also, every once in a while, when they couldn’t find it in the back, they’d have to pull one off the shelf. Last year when I was moving, I bought a lot of big storage bins. When I got to the store, they said the shelves were empty. I said of course they are, I bought them all…check in the back again! Sure enough, they found the cases of them I’d ordered. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/58 "2018-12-13T06:04:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve only ever seen layaway for items that are currently out of stock at a store. You pay them in advance, and in return, when they get more in at the next shipment, they’ll set one aside for you to guarantee that you get one. That’s not how they worked when I clerked at a retail store, admittedly a LONG time ago. Layaway meant you did your shopping, took it to a special desk, they’d add it all up, write out a payment plan, and put the actual physical items you had chosen into a special storage area. I don’t recall if there was a fee beyond the item’s regular cost - I imagine so. What you’re describing is reserving an item by paying for it in advance. Of interest: the place I worked paid staff in cash. It was all above the table: they withheld taxes etc and it was all handwritten on a pay envelope that contained actual pictures of dead presidents in paper and coin form. I had to go down to the bank at the same mall during my break and deposit my pay. They also allowed employees the privilege of “take-home layaway” where they’d take the weekly purchase price out of your pay, but you could take the item home that day. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/59 "2018-12-13T06:11:20Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > An alternative here is “Pay-Per-View”. Various operators offer it and it means that the customer, usually one with a really bad credit score, can buy that new 54" TV they must have for the World Cup or whatever. > > The TV has a meter on the back and you have to feed it with Pound Coins or no TV; alternatively, you buy a card that makes it work. The money in the meter can pay off the cost of the TV and can be used to buy other goods like washing machines etc. > > The downside is that the prices charged for the goods are always the manufacturer’s full price and interest rates are usurious. An individual can easily end up paying over £1000 for a washing machine that I would pay under £300 for. How does the vendor collect those coins? I could imagine a card-based approach being done electronically, but coins??? (similar question on coin-operated gas meters: did the utility come around to empty your coinbox?). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835/60 "2018-12-13T12:14:36Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I still do a Christmas club at the credit union. They give you no interest, but you get premiums ( gifts) and on the day you’ve paid in all you want and it’s time to get your money out (late Nov.) They have a party and freebies, plus drawings for gifts. I won a $100 gift card this year. Fun stuff. I was going to mention banks’ Christmas Clubs. I remember as a wee lad being with Mom as she went down to the bank in early December to collect the cash. I don’t remember any drawings or parties, though. IIRC the bank paid interest but at a lesser rate than a passbook account. My savings account nowadays is paying a generous 0.2% so there would not be much point one way or another. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t think in the US there is _anything_ like the coin-operated TV sets like **bob++** described. (And I’m not sure how that would work; does someone from the rental agency come into your house periodically to empty the meter?) I have seen coin-op TVs but they were installed in a motel. Coin-op bed vibrators, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-a-layaway-purchase-at-a-store/825835.md?page=4)