Perhaps some confusion here that it might be nice to clear up:
This is not aimed at "inventing" cash for those who cannot afford an item -- this is aimed at making items accessible to our customers who can afford the item, but whose families, bills, and commitments make it hard to put out the $1000 or $2000 immediately in one fell swoop. The impetus for our store to look into this in the first place was discussions with customers who know what they can and cannot afford, and who wished they could make installments on a special item here and there -- and somehow getting to use the item they're paying for right away. The bonus of ensuring they can secure immediately what may be less available later became apparent soon after. I think we all know how hard it has been to get products for the last 18 months out of the US!
For a luxury or a hobby, most of us have found out how much we can afford to spare on our interests, but we have important requirements for each paycheck. Mortgages, tuition, children... all of these expenses are non-negotiable, and sometimes make it so we can't spend a whole paycheck on fun; however, we can spend a part of our paychecks on fun. How much that amount will be is different for all of us, but that money is valuable to each of us. Our goal here isn't to push people to bad decisions (the opposite, actually, which I'll cover in a moment), but to offer a tool that can help make that $100-200 a shooter might have available each month into $1000-2000 to get his or her hands on a new Tikka for hunting season or a slick new STI for IPSC instead of limiting that $100-200 to an SKS or a Magpul stock piece by piece. This same shooter could save for ten months to achieve the same goal, but at that time perhaps the rifle isn't available, or hunting season has passed, and regardless of the circumstance he or she has spent most of a year without this gun they could have been enjoying. There are many shooters out there who can afford a Boberg pistol, but might not be able to comfortable squeeze it into one or two paychecks -- the $1299 pricetag isn't the problem, but $1299 all at once is. For these shooters, breaking it over six months is an easy call. As with any service, there is a cost -- there is a service fee for most things in life. But the goal here is not to make an immediate sale at the cost of a shooter's credit, but rather to give our customers another option and to help make things accessible.
A good reminder is that, as a business, we thrive because of our happy and successful customers. Just as we would not be doing well as a business if we sold terrible products that our shooters could not be successful with on range day, we cannot be successful if we were to do anything to negatively impact our customers' financial futures -- a bankrupt shooter isn't going to come in and buy ammo, or a scope, or a gun, and that does not help anyone. More importantly, we consider the grand majority of our customers to be our friends. We are on a first name basis with almost everyone who calls or comes in the door, and if it's your first time calling or visiting, it won't be long until we know your name and you know ours. Forcing bad decisions on friends is not a good way to keep friends. We will always explain the nature of the program to our customers, and we will always work with our customers to ensure they make a choice that is right for them. It is beneficial to us as a store and as members of the community to deal with our customers in an honest manner. As shooters, we thrive because of our good relationships with the people we share so much with.
We're more than happy to answer questions about this program any time in-store at our retail location. It's just a tool for people to realize their goals on a different timeline or in a different manner -- it's not going to replace cash and Visa any time soon!
Cheers,
Daniel
The poster I quoted brings up a good point about the lack tracing the gun for which the loan was granted. If you did the same with a car it gets registered to the new owner, maybe boats too, but I don't have a habit of taking out loans on things I can't afford so I wouldn't know how it works.
