The Buckle Trap: Pros and Cons to working in Retail

Picture this. I'm 19 years old, working at one of those fancy clothing stores in the mall where everything costs three times what it should. Pay was part base, part commission. The sales goal? Convince every single person who walks through the door to leave with jeans, shirts, shoes, and accessories. We were trying to sell complete wardrobes in one shopping trip.

And in the meantime, you're pushed to wear whatever's on the sales floor. Three shipments a week - stay current. The employee discount was great. But I was spending my entire paycheck on the same overpriced clothes because, hey, employee discount, right?

That Summer at Buckle became one of the most expensive Summers I ever had, and I was dead broke. But it was also the Summer when I learned one of my favorite lessons I carry with me.

The Commission Game

If you've never worked in commission retail, let me explain how it works. At Buckle, I made less than minimum wage as a base, and then I was to make up the difference with a 3.5% commission on everything I sold.

But here's the catch - they expected you to sell to every single customer. That’s two shirts, a pair of jeans, shoes, and an accessory. We're talking $30-40 t-shirts, $100 jeans, and $300 Corral boots. Do the math. That's a $600+ sale, every single person, every single time.

The problem? Not all Buckle customers had $300+ to drop. The established employees had their regular customers. The ones with money who came in frequently. And as the new employee, I got the teenagers and college students, who maybe had $50 to spend, not $600.

Ever hear of the "Buckle Challenge"? It's this thing where people try to make it to the back of the store without being approached by an employee. Spoiler alert: it's nearly impossible. That's by design. We were trained to spot people trying to avoid us and intercept them anyway.

Because our paychecks depended on that commission.

The Expensive Employee Discount

Here's where it gets ridiculous. As an employee, you received a 40% discount, which sounds great until you realize they expected you to wear the newest styles all the time. You're essentially a walking advertisement.

So that $40 shirt? Even with our employee discount, I'm still paying $24. And to make that $24 back in commission, I'd have to sell about $680 worth of merchandise. That employee perk would cost over four hours of work at my hourly rate, just to pay for one shirt.

I worked there for one summer and spent almost every dollar I made on clothes. The results were brutal once I stepped back and looked at the pattern.

A Conversation That Changed My Future, and made every hour and dollar worth it.

During my last month there, a gal came in and gave me a piece of her that I still hold on to this day. She was absolutely great to work with. She hopped right into a dressing room, telling me what she wanted to look at. (She knew the Buckle run down) She was so sweet and was telling me that she was shopping for the last day of her week long vacation to Tennessee with her husband. Every year, she and her husband took a trip, and for the last day, she bought herself something new and special.

She ended up with this beautiful flowy pink dress, a little jean jacket, some boots, and a necklace. And when I mentioned how awesome it was that they were taking a trip to Tennessee, she told me something I'll never forget.

She said they'd been married for eight years, together for 12. When they got together, they made a pact. They would not buy each other gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, but instead they would take a week-long trip together every year.

"The gifts do not mean anything," she said. "It's the time spent together that matters."

Her little shopping spree? That was just a fun bonus she did for their last date night and a surprise for her husband. But the real investment was in the time and experience they shared.

How This Changed Me

That conversation stuck with me through my early twenties while I was figuring out what I actually wanted in life. When I finally met Chris, I told him this story.

To this day, we rarely buy each other gifts. Maybe once in a blue moon, but we're not doing the whole "Oh my God, what do you need for your birthday?" panic spending.

Instead we choose to travel.

What started as a week in Arizona turned into two weeks. Then it became two trips to Arizona each year, plus a few camping trips, exploring places like Pictured Rocks, Copper Harbor, and the Porcupine Mountains. (U.P for the win!)

For our birthdays, we each choose a place to travel. It's become this beautiful tradition where we get to focus on each other and reflect on the year while exploring somewhere new. We changed the narrative from “what do you want,” to “where do you want to go.”

And the amazing part is we're not spending money on stuff that doesn't really matter to us. So we can afford to spend weeks or hopefully months in Arizona each winter. Within our eight years, we've created a lifestyle worth living and stopped falling into the trap that Buckle tried to sell me.

The Real Cost of "Stuff"

Working at Buckle taught me that most retail is designed to separate you from your money as efficiently as possible. The commission structure, the sales pressure, the employee requirements to wear new styles. It's all by design.

I'm not saying you should never buy clothes or that retail workers are terrible people. What I am saying is be intentional about what you're spending your money on. Because every dollar you spend on something you do not need is a dollar you can't spend on something that actually brings you joy and connection.

That woman from the Buckel dressing room probably doesn't remember what specific outfit she bought that day. But I bet she remembers the sunset they watched together, the conversations they had over dinner, and the way they felt completely present with each other for one whole week.

It was one of the best priorities I could ever learn in my early twenties.