Shoplifting

Walmart has a new, awesome program. You get to take certain electronic devices home to try them out. You can keep them as long as you want without making payments! They are not aware of the policy yet, but...

Buying the coolest electronics is really expensive! Most of us don't want yesterday's inventions; we want them now! Some of us are willing to open an account and pay 27% interest, to get the latest and greatest goods.

When I buy electronics, I almost always ask to see the "open box" items. Some are returns, others refurbished while others were just display models. They come with the same warranty as a brand new item. Plus, you can negotiate open box items. Why?

Every store has what is called an "open to buy", which just means that store has a certain amount of money that the buyers can use to purchase merchandise. If there are a lot of open box items, it counts toward the store's open to buy, so they want to get rid of the stuff so the buyers can buy the latest gadgets to put in the store.

As you can imagine, the stores want to get rid of this stuff as soon as possible, because they have to keep marking it down to get rid of it. So, always check out the open box items. Just like shopping at yard and garage sales, you can find some real gems.

Make sure you never buy an item that says, "As is". That usually means that item has big problems and once sold, the store doesn't want it back. Open box items can be returned, just like brand new merchandise, so it makes it risk free to take it home and try it out to be sure that it works to your satisfaction.

So, if your budget is tight and you think you can't afford a desired item, go check out the open box items. You might be surprised - and happy!

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to the pharmacy to see if they have any open box prescriptions I take.

See you tomorrow.