Store cards and 18 yr old Staff - criminal!

scolectic

I was just made aware of the system currently employed by high street clothing stores when their staff become 18. Apparently once they are of age the staff part time or otherwise are all issued with a store card with which they can make purchases and receive their staff discount. Of course if they don't want or ned a store card - you guessed it - no staff discount! I personally think this is wrong on so many levels I feel someone has to do something about it. Just for the record I do not have a child in this situation but I have spent many years drumming in to the them that store cards are indeed 'the work of the devil' :mad: and it seems to me these kids are sitting targets for their unscrupulous bosses (who should know better)to take advantage of. Please someone tell me I am not going over the top on this?

fwor

On the face of it, this does look bad, and seems like a greedy attempt to make money out of their junior staff.

However, this may also simply be part of the "law of unintended consequences". One of the significant problems with staff discounts is that, if administered locally, the local management can collude with staff. The result can be loads of stuff leaving the stores cheaply and re-appearing on Ebay the following day!

It's quite possible that the Store Card is just a simple way of having a central record where they can monitor for abuse of the discount scheme.

Having said that, you are of course right to impress on anyone that you know with one that Store Cards are the work of the Devil! You're certainly not going over the top on ~that~ part...

vikingaero

fwor is absolutely correct.

My missus worked for a large department store and the only way to obtain the staff discount was to use the store card. So you would charge a widget on the card for £100 and your statement would come through with the discount and she would pay £80 (assuming a 20% discount).

The store card gave her a maximum discount of £3,000 per annum so the stores are basically farming out the collection, discount records to the third party that supplies the store cards.

There isn't much collusion between local management. On a local level staff can "hide" something for later on in the sale. Staff do get time to buy first before the public sale and often just before a sale finishes staff again get offered a further discount. We've got some fantastic items as a result of the extra discount. For instance £100ish fancy bed linen (can't remember the name of the stuff off hand) that has 50% off = £50 and then at the end of the sale the staff are given a further 40% off the sale price = £30!

RDA

Many high street stores offer staff discount by means of either an identity card or dedicated discount card presented at the checkout. This is true for Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys, Tesco and many other stores.

There is absolutely no reason to place this kind of temptation in the path of young, often gullible employees under the veil of a staff discount scheme.

It is a shameful practice which should be eradicated.

waddy80

Yes but the 18 year old employees will also be targetted to sell these cards to people on the checkout. What better way for them to understand what they are selling top other people than having a store card themselves?

RDA

Frankly I don't believe that many young employees have the experience to be able to manage store cards themselves, let alone be in a position to recommend their benefits to customers.

The credit card industry is out to maximise profit at any expense and will happily feed off anyone who is foolish enough to fall for it's selling points.

Bamber19

By 18 you should have the mental capacity to enter into contracts and make decisions by yourself.

ovetta2001

I used to work in topshop and I had a staff card myself. All stores under the same company give over 18 staff a discount by ther card only which last time i checked was also 29%APR. The world of topshop is...a different one and i saw many a girl use their card and get into debt. It is exactly what the company wants because then in the end it makes our discount worthless and in the end gives them a profit.

If they do it to 'keep an eye on us' then why is the APR so high? And why would they give us something with a credit limit thats higher than our monthly wages?

vixarooni

Debenhams is the same.
BUT, i thought of this just the other day. One of the criterias of a staff card is that you work over 16 hours per week.

I only work 14 at most, so really i should only be allowed to have a plastic discount card instead of a full cocher one.

But it is wrong, i have done the store card thing and learned very quickly that they are bad. I didnt get into debt, but i hated the idea of being down every month apart form the one you purchased the good in.

RadoJo

I can kind of see the arguments on both sides, but I have to say that I think part of the reason people have so much trouble with managing money is because the responsibility is passed to someone else! An 18 year old can vote, get married, go to war, decide to move to another country and a miriad of other life changing decisions - why should they be nannied when it comes to their finances? If you cannot manage a store card, the answer isn't to ban store cards outright, it is up to the individual to ensure that they accept responsibility for themselves. Companies will always try to sell their products to whoever will buy them - it isn't their job to be parents to their staff.

ethansmum

Blimey, I had a mortgage at 18- so why not a store card??