[Ilander]

You're totally right about the Wal-Mart thing, I think...I can see their point though..."Hey, you can't afford to buy this all at once? It's okay. Here, pay us some interest via this card on your purchases...it's like layaway, only we don't have to spend money storing your crap."

It's for this reason that I say that layaways are doomed. Stores "spend money" warehousing their goods. Get it off the shelf faster, and you make more money, and don't need as many laborers in the back making illegal amounts of money.

I dunno, overall, I believe that stores are marketing so much to my age group that they can't help but try to react to what they think is a run on their profits via the internet...and I think they're right, to a degree. To a Wal-Mart/Target/whatever CFO, a loss of 7% of the shoppers across the board is devastating.

To a multi-billion dollar coorporation, anyway.

You or I certainly wouldn't care.

Consumerism is a frightening culture...I really don't want to take part in its excesses, but I don't really like gardening, and I enjoy video games, so I guess I'm trapped.