Might Lose Your Job: Head to Sears!

I came across an interesting article today on Bloomberg.com about a new program that Sears Holding Corp, the largest department store chain in the country, is creating to help encourage sales. In the article “Sears to Let Jobless Stop Payments Still Keep Fridge”, the program is based around the premise that by providing some loopholes around payments to people who lose their jobs, more people will buy appliances.

Customers who spend at least $399 on appliances and related merchandise between July 6 and Aug. 1 will have one-twelfth of the purchase price credited to their account for every month they are out of work, said Larry Costello, a company spokesman. Those who are jobless for more than a year will have the full debt forgiven, he said. The offer period may be extended, he said.

Customers who lose their jobs between 60 days and one year after having made the purchase qualify for the offer, Costello said. The program also covers delivery, service and installation costs, he said.

This sounds like a great program for people who feel less than secure in their jobs. As long as you don’t get fired before the 60 day initial period is up, your golden. In my eyes this is only going to encourage people who can’t afford the purchase to begin with. If you work a low paying job you might as well get fired on purpose and then relax for the rest of the year, maybe do some odd jobs to pay for your other bills.

Let me throw out a scenario for you. Here I am 20 years old working at McDonald’s and living with my parents, I go to work every day hating my job and have been wanting to quit for months. Now this is a golden opportunity. I then go to Sears and make some huge purchases. Now I just have to wait out that intial 60 day period. Then I go and insult a customer and get fired. Now I get to keep all the stuff I’ve bought and just relax for a year. Maybe I’ll work some odd jobs off the books to get some money for going to the movies and such.

I don’t see anyway this program is going to benefit Sears. It sounds like a huge mistake to me. I know some of the carmakers have programs where if you lose your job you can bring the car back. In the Sears program though you get to keep all the stuff. This seems ludicrous. I guess it will make the Sears sales numbers improve, but who really cares if their not getting any money from it.

Sears plans to have a website with all the details about this promotion, but its not up and running yet. I can only hope there’s some legal mumbo jumbo in there that protects them somewhat. From everything their saying it sounds like a horrible idea to me.

I guess for deadbeat consumers its a great deal. Someone needs to be looking out for them. Congrats Sears!!!