Kmart's New Idea

Kmart's new recession play: Discounts for the unemployed

So Kmart has come up with a novel way to hang on to those customers until they're back at work and spending freely by giving them discounts now. The chain has introduced a Smart Assist program that will give the unemployed nationwide a 20 percent discount off 1,500 food and household staples from Kmart's various store brands.

The program was tested this summer in Michigan -- the first state to top 15 percent unemployment in 25 years -- and Kmart got praise there from the governor and the mayor of Detroit.

There are a few catches: The discount cards, which will be issued through January 2010, are only good for six months -- less time than many Detroit auto workers have been out of work. And while shoppers can apply privately on-line, they still have to present their unemployment documentation at checkout to use their discount card.

After a back-to-school season when parents had to put pencils and notebooks on layaway to make ends meet, the fear that a "jobless recovery" will gum up the works is very real. It's coloring even the rosier holiday sales forecasts.

More of the article here. Do you think it will help?!