Holiday Shopping Gets Easier
Are you tired of being dragged from store to store in the mall by your kids while they shop and give you dirty looks for suggesting that those leopard print boots may not be very practical? As the holiday season begins to wear especially hard on parents, many welcome anything that can make their lives easier.
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Are you tired of being dragged from store to store in the mall by your kids while they shop and give you dirty looks for suggesting that those leopard print boots may not be very practical? As the holiday season begins to wear especially hard on parents, many welcome anything that can make their lives easier.In the last year, several companies have begun thinking about the dynamic between parents and teenagers, specifically finding the right balance that gives teenagers the freedom they want and parents some level of supervision. To address the best way to strike that balance, several online companies have begun developing ways to give teens the capability to spend money while helping parents supervise how that money is spent.
Some companies have established online payment services and pseudo-credit cards that give teenagers the convenience and flexibility of a traditional credit card while giving parents a means to gauge their children's spending. Some of those services offer "cyber allowances" that let parents set up online accounts for their children.
According to Jupiter Communications, children ages 5 to 18 will spend $1.3 billion dollars online by 2002, but in surveys, teenagers who shop online say they want their purchasing power extended to the mall. Few Web sites, however, offer all the benefits of a credit card: a physical card to use both online and offline, or the option of real-time funding and reporting.But now a new service geared to teenagers and their families is making life easier. Companies such as PocketCard offer teenagers a great deal of flexibility while giving parents the ability to pre-set spending limits, monitor purchases, and provide financial guidance to their children. It goes a step beyond traditional payment service programs by offering real-time updates on how money in the account is being spent. This serves as an invaluable tool for parents who want to give their children the freedom to shop online or offline but within their limits.
Parents who don't want to fight the mall crowds this holiday season can set up an account with PocketCard on the Internet or over the phone. Parents receive one PocketCard for funding purposes and as many spending PocketCards as requested for their children. All funding, spending and reporting are handled in real-time using a Web browser or touch-tone phone. The card can be used for all of a family's holiday shopping at any online or offline store and to withdraw money from an ATM to buy a holiday fruit cake from the neighborhood bake sale.
When PocketCard founder and CEO, William Scheurer, was asked how he came up with the concept of PocketCard he said, "I wanted to give my own teenage children the freedom and prestige that goes along with spending money while allowing me to monitor how the money was being spent."
Parents and teenagers can get more information on PocketCard at www.pocketcard.com or by calling (847) 356-8000.
Courtesy of Article Resource Association, www.aracopy.com, e-mail: info@aracopy.com
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