Bits And Pieces

"Charge It Please!"

     The nation's economy will probably reach a low ebb and department stores will feel the pinch because this family is on a pay-as-you-go basis.  No more blithe words like "charge it please," will fall from our lips.  We've piled all those plastic-coated rectangles, commonly known ass charge plates, into an envelope and we leave them home when we go shopping.  And you know something?  The thrill and the adventure has gone out of this buying business.

     Now, because I realize I must pay for my purchases here and now, I think twice about attending sales in which my resolutions might be tested.  I shop around--compare prices and are much more choosy about the items I do select.

     Pop is strictly a cash man, and it was only my carefree city ways that converted him to charge accounts after we married.  Actually it was the fact you couldn't establish a credit rating without some credit references that did it.  But he frowns upon charge plates.

     The easy charging days of yore are gone.  Now if I have the long green on hand I buy that dress bargain, those melon shaded towels or hand woven table mats.  So  "no mon', no fun."

     It's so simple to buy now and pay later, but the day of reckoning arrives once a month along with the bills.  I've this tendency to overbuy if I don't have to pay immediately.

     Anyway Pop decided we'd spend less on a cash basis--'tis too early to tell if he's right; but we've learned a few things from toying with this new experiment.

     For example, paying cash for things is rather a bother and a bore to clerks.  They prefer fitting the little cardboards into the machines and printing your name and address on the charge slip.

     Returns are a lot simpler if you've charged the merchandise.  You just return the purchase and have the amount credited to your account.  But pay cash for something and you must 1. Return it to the department where it was bought; 2. Pick up a cash credit slip from the clerk who sold you the stuff in the first place; 3. Take this to the top floor--way in the corner office before the company parts with the money you gave them in the first place.

     If the goods are charged, the store can deliver and leave them at your door even if you happen to not be home.  Pay cash and you wait--and wait for delivery.

         If you must send back your purchase it becomes rather involved.  Oh they pick it up alright--but have to send you a check for the money involved.  So if you have any ideas about dashing out for another cash purchase--forget it until the check is returned.  Oh, then you have to go to the bank for the actual cash.

     The days for discount for cash are long gone.  I can remember when as a bonus for paying cash you were offered a percentage off for the goods.  Now the actual cash outlay seems to offer a problem.

     If you buy a new car and decide to pay cash you'll throw the whole auto salesroom into a panic.

     "Of course you'd like our convenient financing?" smiled the salesman pleased at our purchase of a new car.

     "No, we plan to pay cash," we also smile.

     "Cash?" questions the salesman.

     "Cash," we reply.

     "But if you need this ready money for something else you'll find our financing program is so reasonable you hardly miss the monthly payments," he says earnestly and not smiling.  This is not helping the finance company at all and nowadays you are the odd one if you do pay on the dotted line instead of signing on the dotted line.

     At a conference held by the American Bankers Association, a man from International Telephone and Telegraph explained how money might be handled a generation from now.

     On pay day your wages would be automatically transmitted into a bank account directly from your company.  The bank processing center would handle all the bookkeeping and pay all your bills at once and you'd be told if you were on the red or black side of the ledger.  You'd carry an all purpose credit card good anywhere and for everything.  When you bought an item you presented the card and the store transmitted the data and would immediately be given credit for the spent amount in its own accounts.  See, no money would change hands.

     I gather both husband and wife would be given one of these credit cards--I hope.

     All I can say is that it is a good thing Pop isn't in that future generation.  It would be impossible to pay cash for anything---.  But think of the fun I'd have.

Written June 4, 1964