Secret Santa… at a KMart Near You.
Perhaps you have heard about this groundswell of goodwill. Folks walking into mass merchants- the most frequency seems to be at KMart- and anonymously paying off Layaway accounts.
Have to admit, I liked the idea so well, I did it myself yesterday.
I liked it even better AFTER I did it. In case you are considering it, here’s how smoothly it worked for me:
I went to a local Big KMart, and back to the Layaway Desk. I had actually thought about what I would need to explain to the clerk, just in case they weren’t aware of what was going on in Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere. No need for that- as soon as I said, “I want to pay off an account, I just don’t know which one…”, the clerk was on the phone to Security.
“I’ve got a Secret Santa”.
From there, it was easy. The security person relayed accounts about to default. Without disclosing the account holder’s names, the clerk and I looked at the account detail and selected ones with primarily toys, and at an amount I wanted to spend. KMart then calls the account holder with their “new” balance. EZ PZ.
I was frankly relieved that I didn’t have to explain what I wanted to do, and THAT turned out to be the best part- “Oh no, sir, LOTS of people are doing it”. Take that, Mr. Scrooge!
Now, I have heard the cynics suggesting that KMart is somehow gaining itself from all this generosity. A quick check of both the KMart layaway website (www.kmart.com/Holiday-2011) and their Twitter account, http://twitter.com/Kmart have no mention of Secret Santas. Probably a miss in the PR realm, but save that for another post.
There is, of course, the reality that any retailer offering layaway does stand to gain if the account defaults- merchandise is returned to stock and down payments and service fees are forfeited.
While perhaps a slightly unfortunate part of the retailer’ business plan, by being a Secret Santa, you can avoid that happening, too.
Double Bonus. Take my word for it. Double, at least.
How about you, it there a little “Secret Santa” in you somewhere?
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