Need a Soda, Financing is Available

If you’re light on cash and really craving a caffeine kick, don’t worry about it, buy it now and pay later. It’s the American way; can’t afford it or don’t have the dough, no worries just charge it. If the average Joe doesn’t already have enough credit card debt piling up, there is a new way to quickly add a couple of bucks on top of that mountain of personal debt. Pop machines are now accepting credit cards offering a great way for someone to pay interest on their personal beverage drinking habits. Have we really gotten to the point of financing pop?

A couple of nights ago my wife and I had an evening out and decided to grab dinner and a movie. After dinner we picked up our movie tickets (at $10 bucks a piece I might add) and then decided to burn a little time with a stroll through the adjoining mall. Before returning to the theatre we decided to hit up the pop machine and grab a couple of 20 oz-ers. Being the frugal consumer I am, I thought it would be a much cheaper alternative to bring these into the show versus buying the $5 glass of fountain pop inside. After walking up to the machine we quickly realized that it accepted credit cards! I couldn’t believe it. My first thought was that this is a great convenience factor, then I began to think of where we have gone as a society. All I could think of was how my grandfather would roll over in his grave if he knew people were throwing pop on credit and paying interest. Granted many people use their card just like cash and pay off the balance in full each month, but as evident over the past 5 years, those people are in the minority.

At what point do we say enough is enough, and if you don’t have the cash don’t buy it? I can’t help but feel we are setting our younger generations up for massive financial failure. Every direction you turn we’re slamming people with marketing geared towards a lifestyle of living on credit; recently I asked if Credit Card Debt Should Be Illegal?. From gas stations to department stores you can virtually buy anything and not pay for 6 months or finance it longer term. Now we’ve gotten to the point of a bottle of pop. Again I’d ask were do we draw the line?