Like Money in the Bank...sort of

Credit cards. Hmm. No real surprise here that financial overlord Wal-Mart would get into a plethora of financial services. There are Discover cards, regular Wal-Mart cards, and several types of reloadable debit cards, as well as money orders and wire transfers. But cashiers are now a strategy for marketing these services.

For years, the registers have had signage and fliers for our credit cards. But they always advocated for applying at a kiosk or online. Now, go ahead and hold up our cashiers and the five guests behind you by applying during your checkout. Just go through these easy 15 steps and you too can have instant credit.

Apparently, each store was to try to market the cards. Some bright store got the idea of putting up a gazebo on the main aisle and pushing cards. That probably sold more gazebos than credit cards. ("Look, Henry, we need one of those." "No Martha, we don't need another piece of plastic." "No, Henry, the blue gazebo. Wouldn't it be wonderful for the backyard?") Our store put up the gazebo and put forms on a table, but forgot one important piece of marketing -- the salespeople. I would be surprised if it netted one application. It came down about a week later.

Now, besides the "get $20 back" (by mail, not at the register) and "no interest for one year" (if you buy $250+ in one trip), each register has a little reminder: "Ask every customer if they would like to apply for a credit card." Sure -- every cashier does this just like every cashier asks guests if they would like to buy a Children's Miracle Network balloon.

Imagine a Sunday afternoon, your line loaded up, and you try to sell those young parents on instant plastic. "You need this, you want this. I know when I was your age, we screwed up our credit badly by having these and not paying them. Every young parent should have some." If Wal-Mart wants to push plastic, they can hire some sales pushers to hawk them at the door. Why do the cashiers have to assume one more job?

Then there are reloadable cards. I'm not sure everyone understands the temporary card, the permanent card, and the reload options. I tried to reload one some time ago, and it wouldn't work. A few weeks ago, I tried another one. It worked, I gave him the receipt, and the guest looked at me like something was wrong. "Where's the card?"

"I gave you back the account number and scannable code. There wasn't anything else."

"Don't I get a card?

Oh, boy. He had a temporary card, never got the permanent one and now I've put hundreds of dollars on an account that I can't refund.

I called a customer service manager, and she took him to the courtesy desk. Later she came back and tried to cancel the original transaction -- which failed miserably. They headed back to the courtesy desk. I never heard what happened. Easiest options -- get a checking account with a Visa or MasterCard debit card or buy a gift card.