I’m still not a ‘preferred customer’
I just paid off our last debt under $1000 today. I think all that is left is hospital debts, taxes and a school loan. The school loan is the big one but still it feels good to have gotten this far. We may even be able to take off another $800 or so this month.
So far we’ve paid off around $15,000 over the last few years.
I wish I could say the story below is funny, but in a way it’s kinda sickening from our perspective.
Walking around the mall yesterday, my wife decided to get her engagement ring cleaned at a Jewelry store there. I sat outside and waited for her because I don’t like pushy sales people. One of the workers at this Jewelry store asked if Becca was a “preferred customer”.
Becca’s response was “no, we don’t use credit cards” whereupon the lady asked her “why not?” and went on to explain that they only report to one credit bureau so it wouldn’t hurt our credit rating anyway if we were to apply. The lady became more pushy at that point and apparently decided to try to ‘cure’ Becca from her apparent misconception about credit debt…
But what’s sickening is this:
My wife went into the store to get her ring cleaned. Sure, she’s probably going to look around a bit while she waits. Instead of proffering her merchandise and trying to sell the merchandise… what was offered first was the store credit card.
Now, I would love to go into a store and get Becca a nice necklace or something every now and then. Every now and then we end up with some money from some source that I love to do something nice for her with (though she would rather have a ‘day/night away’ over jewelry any day) but I am not going to buy from a jewelry store that offers me their credit card before they even show me what merchandise they have.
Truth.
Businesses make more money from their credit cards then they do from their actual merchandise. With sky-high interest rates and debt collection companies all vying to buy out their default credit lines, this is where the money is at. Unfortunately they bank on financial crises like what is happening right now across our nation to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Don’t blame taxes or the government. Blame these credit card companies. Blame the stores who proffer up their credit cards before their merchandise. They are banking that you already want what they have… and the sale is the credit line.
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You are so right - the new “product” for businesses is interest from credit accounts. Something has gone a little wacky in Capitalism-land!
As as artist I feel like creating art is less important than creating revenue! There’s something sad and frightening about a society that has decided that monetary value is the only value.
I just finished a fine art show in Sedona where a prospective client asked me if I thought my work would go up in “value” after I died! I told them I didn’t plan on dying anytime soon and instead of laughing they walked away!
Maybe I should offer the Art Credit Card - Art Now, Pay Later!