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Lay-A-Way figurine available at Black Art Visions. No, really.

The mainstream media is writing about the surge in the Lay-A-Way practice on the retail level because our economy is so fucked the fuck up that now even white is taking advantage of this. Black folks done been using Lay-A-Way since forever.

You ever heard of Rent-A-Center?

This is how the poor and disenfranchised stay winning, and by winning I of course mean losing. Interest rates and fees that are even higher than those imposed by credit cards are what the poor have had to accept in order to taste some of the high life they imagine the wealthy have access to. The poor pays nearly twice the amount for furniture and flat screen televisions that the middle class pays. For all we know the wealthy get this shit for free.

I have used Lay-A-Way many times and I am not ashamed to admit it. By the time I was too old to steal shit from stores I was buying it on Lay-A-Way. There used to be a pretty good deal on Lay-A-Way items through the TJX Corporation (Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, & A.J. Wright) until they switched up their store policies. PrA’li because of me is what I like to think.

I used to put shit on Lay-A-Way that was due to be marked down. $200 worth of shit could be held up for a month with only $20. Right before the end of the month I would take the items and do a second Lay-A-Way ticket. I had to perform some shenanigans on my side to accomplish this, but after almost 60 days those items were all marked down at least once. Some of them even received a double markdown. The double markdown is the menage a’trois of retail shopping.

For $10 in Lay-A-Way fees I was getting $200 of shit for less than a $100. Those were the days that I gave a fuck. I don’t care so much anymore because retail shopping is pretty much dead unless you can make an adventure out of the process. Now if I go into a Marshall’s or a TJ Maxx or any store I walk directly to the ‘Clearance’ section. I can always find something there without too much of a fuss and my retail addiction is satiated. I’m glad for white that they are finally finding out about Lay-A-Way. I just wish they would return the favor and teach us how to switch SKU tickets.