The Story of JC Penney
by Justin Lukasavige

In 1902 a young man of 26 years old by the name of James "Cash" Penney opened a store called The Golden Rule in Wyoming. James Penney was given the nickname Cash because of his moral oposition to credit. Selling merchandise for cash only, Penney grew the retail chain throughout the Rockie Mountain states and later changed the name to J.C. Penneys. Today there are more than 1,000 stores throughout the world, but they did not start accepting credit as payment until the late 1970's.

In fact the idea of borrowing money short term (credit cards), is only a recent idea. The first credit card issued in the US was in 1951 by Diners Club to only 200 customers. They were accepted at 27 restaurants in New York. Credit cards really didn't catch on until 1970 when standards for the magnetic strip were developed. Back then credit companies didn't tolerate a late payment from a customer. It wasn't until years later that credit card companies realized they could make even more money on interest.

As aware consumers, we need to realize how much things have changed just in the past century. Did you know that in 1929 only 2% of houses had a mortgage on them, while in 1962 only 2% did NOT have a mortgage?

It's time we embodied what J.C. Penney knew back in 1902... we need to stop using credit cards to buy things we can't afford.

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