Son,

The Payday loan business is just that, a business.  They are like any other business.  They make money by having a steady stream of customers.  And, like other businesses, they measure their success.  I would sure like to see their statistics.

We write essays for this online magazine.  We measure our success in the same manner that other businesses measure.  How many visits or views did we get in a day, a week, a month.?  How many of those visitors hung around and read more than one article?  Where did our visitors come from?  In the internet world we look at ‘bounce rates.’  Did the customer come in and stay – or did they come in and bounce out.
All retails stores go out of their way to attract customers.  They offer ‘loss leaders’ by advertising particular products below normal prices to get someone in the door, hoping that the person will buy more once there.  I would venture that the stores are able to analyze  register receipts to determine how many times a person bought the loss leader along with something else.  It is just smart business.

Payday loan folks are businessmen, in the moral category of big tobacco companies.   They must surely keep statistics.  The only difference between them and us is in the product we sell.  Big tobacco companies lied for decades about the addictive qualities of their product.  They masterfully marketed to children.  They became so cash powerful that even when caught they were able to fend off their detractors.

We see marketing schemes today that advertise, drink responsibly, smoke responsibly, and use payday loans responsibly.  Then the companies advertising claim to have the high moral ground.  ‘Look at our ads,’ they say, ‘We are doing a public service.’  The payday loan schmucks present themselves as social workers, desperate to help the needy.

There is no retail business in the world that encourages their customer to only come in one time.  The payday loan industry claims they do – and our fool legislators actually believe them.  They believe them like they believed the tobacco companies for decades.  Every retail business looks at their ‘bounce rate.’

I would sure like to see the statistics kept by the payday loan industry on returning customers.

Dad