Kids And Finances

Teens And Money: Beware Of Salespeople

If you think that salespeople in retail stores are there for the single reason of helping you find what you need, you’re wrong. They’re also there to try to up sell your purchase and even get to you signup for and use credit cards regardless of whether it’s in your best financial interest or not. These facts were painfully obvious when I was recently shopping with my son at a trendy store popular with the youth of today.

Promote Sales To Increase Spending

After looking around the store, we went to the checkout counter to purchase a shirt my son had picked out. The cashier was a young woman I would estimate in her late teens. She looked at the shirt and asked if we wanted to pick out another shirt for 30% off. My son looked at me with a look as if he was going to go back to the shelves.

“Did you see another shirt you really liked?” I asked, knowing the answer as it took him a significant amount of time just to pick out one.

“No, not really,” he replied.

I internally commended the young woman for almost getting another sale as we continued with our transaction. I knew that if a sale resulted in buying something I wasn’t already planning to buy, it wasn’t saving me money, it was costing me money.

Promote Credit Cards

She stated the total and then asked if we had a rewards account. She looked up my account by phone number and proceeded to state that I had been approved for their store credit card.

“If you choose to accept the offer, you wouldn’t have to pay for this today,” she said.

While I had no temptation to take the offer, I could see how some people might. Especially a younger person who is a bit constrained with their funds. They could take their purchase home today, keep the money they were going to use in their pocket, and worry about the bill later. Of course she didn’t state the interest rate, nor warn us of the dangers of revolving debt.

Once we left the store, I explained to my son what had just happened, shared my observations, and reinforced the importance of going shopping with a list, sticking to that list, and paying with cash. By following those rules, the temptations put in front of us by salespeople are no match for our financial powers.

How about you CleverFriends, do you notice when salespeople are trying to get you to do something financially that may not be in your best interest?

Brought to you courtesy of Brock

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Brock Kernin

Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children,  Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.