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Posted by Rob Walker on October 14, 2008
Posted Under: America
Posted Under: America
Over the weekend the NYT reminded us what a poor job the school system does in educating young people about personal-finance basics.
Today the NYT tells us that someone is stepping up to teach Americans how to be thrifty: Retailers.
The Stop & Shop grocery chain is offering “affordable food summits” where consumers are taught how to lower their grocery bills. Home Depot offers classes on how to cut energy bills. And Wal-Mart Stores hired a “family financial expert” who has used online chats to teach several thousand shoppers how to save money for college, whittle away debt and sell a house.
Great. If this works out, maybe they can add geography and math classes. No Consumer Left Behind!
Further diversion may be found at MKTG Tumblr, and the Consumed Facebook page.
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Reader Comments
So many aspects of American life have been outsourced already. Why not education?
It always makes me skeptical when I see retailers holding seminars about how consumers can save money at their stores. Doesn’t this go against their responsibility to their share holders to increase profits? Probably not, since I suspect their real motive is to get more business, only this time it’s under the guise of ‘education’. I’m not suggesting there aren’t companies out there that don’t practice high ethics with good consumer programs, there just aren’t enough of them.