Prepaid Cell Phones for Teens: Why Not?

The other day I was having a beer with some co-workers, and Jason, one of the dads in the group, brings up how his two kids are begging for phones, but to add them to his existing contract would be outrageously overpriced for what they want to use the phones for. Other concerns of ensuring they don’t go over their slotted data or minutes, as well as the inevitable ‘lost phones’ seemed to just bring more stress to his table than needed. While I have no experience in the kids area, it got me thinking to a solution for him that would satisfy the needs and wants, and it came to me; pre-paid phones.

I mean, let’s be honest, they make perfect sense from the start. Parents want kids to be connected, and kids want, well, a phone to stay connected, and the ability to do so while saving a boatload of money would be advantageous to both sides. Let’s take a look at some of the other advantages.

• No contract. A few different scenarios play out with this, from the kids only needing a cell phone during the summer time when they are out of school, or say one of them gets a D on the test and the phone is taken away. There is no loss of money for the time when the phone isn’t in use you only pay for what is used.
• Can help teach budgeting. With contracts, it’s a year to year payment, and there is no real educational aspect to that. But with a pay-as-you-go plan, bringing in a bit of budgeting education can teach the value of money and how it is spent.
• No credit check is required to open an account. This is an incredible advantage for teenagers, and could be the first thing outside a bank account in their name.
• No deposit required to buy a phone, which usually isn’t free, but still incredibly affordable
• When the minutes are out, they have to buy more. This would help the kids learn, again, the value of budgeting.

One of the best things though, through it all, is how easy it would be to setup. As I talked to Jason about this idea, weighing the pros and cons and hopefully providing useful advice, we came to the realization that it would be as easy as taking the kids to the local Safeway, and in our research, found that not only can they buy the phones there, but keep them reloaded as they needed. Even better was that the purchases would go towards fuel rewards as well when the family Safeway card is used, and for a limited time, Safeway is featuring 10x fuel rewards on TracFone and NET10 prepaid wireless cards, and once this promotion ends, he will still earn 2x gas reward points everyday on prepaid wireless products. Now that puts even more money back into Jason’s pocket.

So the real question comes down to this; why not a prepaid wireless phone?

Buy Prepaid Wireless Cards at Safeway and SAVE : Thru 6/23, Safeway is featuring 10x fuel rewards on all TracFone and NET10 prepaid wireless cards. Learn more about Safeway’s fuel rewards program here!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of TapInfluence. The opinions and text are all mine.