Store Credit: Personal Finance Advice
Spend a little bit of time in a clothing or department store and you’re bound to hear it…the manager’s voice booms over the walkie-talkies all the employees carry and in an excited voice makes an announcement that sounds a little like this: “Hey team, Sara just got another one! That makes two for today! Great going Sara!” This is usually followed by a couple of other supervisors who hop on the walkie-talkie and add their congratulations to the employee, and then the manager comes on one more time and urges all the other employees to keep up the good work just like Sara.
You might be inclined to believe that Sara has just made a huge sale, or maybe even that she stopped a shoplifter. What the manager is actually so jolly about is this: Sara compelled a customer to fill out a credit application.
What you may not realize is that clerks in stores are trained to get customers to fill out credit applications almost as much as they are trained to know about the merchandise they sell. Salespeople are given quotas to fill as to how many credit applications to bring in. In some instances, managers stress credit applications more than they do the actual sale of merchandise.
Credit is a big deal to retail stores. If a store can get you to obtain a credit card from them then chances are you’ll spend more and wind up paying some interest at some point. This makes you a more attractive customer.
Now you know why every time you go through the checkout line the person at the register asks you, “Can I save you 10% by opening a card for you today?” They’re not doing it because they really want to save you 10%. They’re doing it because they’ve been trained to and because they have a quota to fill.
Once you start to think of a store credit card as a product - instead of some sort of extra the store offers as a courtesy to their customers – then may be a little easier to decline the clerk’s offer for a credit card application. After all, if you went in to buy a bag of oranges at a grocery store and the clerk at the register asked you, “Can I interest you in this loaf of bread too?” you might think to yourself how you don’t even need the bread and how weird it is for the clerk to offer you bread at the checkout.
Think of store credit as a loaf of bread: Sometimes it’s a good idea, but you should get it when you need it instead of when it’s merely suggested to you.
| Posted by Tamsen
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Member Comments
Yes and that is one of the things that irks my nerves in an department store.
AMEN to that!
i work part time at a major retailer and that’s ALL i ever hear! its annoying and the management practically jams it down your throat.
High sales? doesn’t matter. Consistent positive customer feedback? still doesn’t matter. Curse out everyone in the store show up late, do what you want but open several charges per shift? Golden!
I had one manager lingering over my shoulder as i was ringing up a customer and saying (not so subtly may i add) to get her to open a store charge, how she looks like the kind of customer who needs a store charge and even after i asked her and went through the quick spill and she shut me down - he says “try harder!”
it is SO sickening!
beware most of those store credits have high interest rates - sometimes as high as the high 20s. Only if you really shop at that store often enough and work out which sales you’ll hit and when AND try to pay off your balance each month.
This is very true. I worked at JCPenney’s for quite a while, and there are different goals for part-time and full-time employees. I don’t know if this still goes on, but we used to be paid $2.00 cash per charge application received. The managers were constantly on our cases about wrangling in customers. And yes, the accounts do come with high interest rates. I strongly suggest you think twice before opening a store account!
I was just wondering if it’s EVER a good idea to get a store credit card, do you have any examples of ones you think are worth it?
if you shop at a store enough you can save a decent amount of money by taking advantage of promotions linked to using the in-store card. this is only beneficial though if you pay your balance in full every month early enough as not to accrue interest. the easiest way is to charge it on the card, go home, get online, and pay it off immediately. this takes some discipline, but it can be done.