Cash vs. Credit
July 01, 2007
The last thing I want to do on a beautiful Saturday is to go ceramic tile shopping. After looking at endless tiles that all looked somewhat alike, we finally got to the point where we wanted to take several tile samples with us so that we can continue the fun over at the bathroom cabinet store (why we can't do this at one store is confounding).
The tile store asked for a cash deposit for the sample tiles, with the cash returned when the tiles are returned. The last time we did this they took credit cards for the deposit.
When I asked why, the clerk indicated that when people paid with credit, they rarely returned the samples. When they asked for cash, the odds of having the tiles returned greatly increased. The cost of both was exactly the same to the consumer.
Interesting how payment type effects behavior.