Really? hocking a grill?
Posted on 08/09/2011 5:46:48 AM PDT by csvset
A steady stream of people in need flows through Granters Jewelry & Loan, an El Cerrito pawn shop with a carved carousel horse in the window and a cigar-store Indian in the vestibule.
Two guys hock a guitar for $300 to get rent money. A woman offers up a diamond ring for cash to pay her PG&E bill.
A man pawns a laptop for $40 to last until payday. A mother with two toddlers in tow counts out $99 to repay a loan plus interest so she can retrieve a necklace and some rings.
"It's hard times," said Tammi Owens of San Pablo. A student of early childhood education, she was pawning her removable "grillz" gold teeth until the school year starts and she gets her financial aid check.
"There are no other options," she said. "I have to pay my bills."
Pawn shops fling open a window onto how hard many Americans are struggling to make ends meet these days.
With credit tight and jobs scarce, more people than ever - including middle-class consumers and small businesses - are hocking possessions to get quick cash, although they pay a price in interest and fees.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I read that and had to post it.
Really? hocking a grill?
Are you f'n kidding me?? Oh how I wish San Fran-freako would just slip quietly into the sea.
Only if it takes San Fran Nan, the homies and militant, in-ur-face gays along for the ride. Otherwise, it’s a paradise.
Oh , wait a minute .....who’d remain?
Deal with Chumley. He is not too bright....
Oh , wait a minute .....who’d remain?
The homeless doing their bathroom business right on the sidewalk?
Or, should I say.......Mr. Chum Lee?
>>Popular TV shows like “Pawn Stars” and “Hardcore Pawn” have fueled interest and helped pawn shops shed their image as seedy havens for stolen goods.
Stolen goods - no. Seedy - yes. But, in the words of a friend who owned one, “the poor man’s bank”. (Try wanking into the place where you’ve had your checking account for 10 years and saying “I need $100 to pay my electric bill, but don’t get paid until Friday”.) A few tidbits:
1/ The size of loan offered varies according to the customer. If you look like you’re going to come back and pick the stuff up, you’ll get more, since the broker makes his 20% per month on the size of the loan. If you look like you won’t come back, the loan size is reduced drastically. Pawnbrokers are incredibly good judges of character - they make these transactions hundreds of times a week.
2/ There are no good deals in pawn shops - brokers know what stuff is worth - to the penny.
3/ It is not uncommon for a small shop to have $40,000 to $50,000 “out” (meaning money loaned). Add that up: $40,000 invested at 20% - PER MONTH. All cash business, to boot.
4/ Pawned items are often rolled over - for YEARS.
5/ Brokers don’t like to make you an offer for your stuff - they know that often you don’t place much value on the item (that’s why you’re in his shop trying to sell it). Example: Platinum bracelet walks into the shop, and the customer insists it’s sterling, saying: “I know what it’s worth, I won’t take less than $20!” “OK, lady, you drive a hard bargain; you got it.” 60-100 year old wedding and engagement rings, BTW, were often made of platinum.
6/ The best customers are gamblers - when they loose on that “sure bet”, they’re in there with the stereo, grandma’s jewelery; everything. (”Can’t let the missus know; she’d kill me.”)Big bucks for the shop (see 1/ above). When they win they’re in, buying everything in sight, spending like drunken sailors.
7/ Guns - the buying or selling requires an FFL, but it’s a goldmine, and not for the reason you’d think! You have a crappy, broken gun. Even your friends won’t take it off your hands - the broker will. You’ll see him at the next do-gooder gun buy-back with a bag full of ‘em.
8/ Death & guns = profit! Grandpa dies; granny or the kids walk in and say: “I don’t want this thing in my house”. It’s a WW1 vintage 1911 with all original finish; never been shot. That’s good, but even better:”M’am, did your husband have any other stuff? (combined with a “wouldn’t want any of that nasty old ammo around; it may blow the house up” look)
9/ To a society that can’t make change without reading how much to give out on the cash register, selling or buying gold is rocket science: Quick, 14 karat gold is ________%? (Answer: 58-1/3%.)In the remote chance that they mastered that hurtle, the “how much does it weigh” will stop them in their tracks. Math problem: If I have 20 pennyweights in 14k gold and you have 20 grams in 14k gold, who has more gold? Sooooo, buy in one and sell in the other = instant hidden profit. Magic.
BTW, the “but my ring has precious stones in it so it’s worth more” is laughable. After you leave, the broker will beat the ring with a large hammer to remove and discard the stones - in nearly all cases, they are worthless. Gold recyclers will not take scrap gold with stones.
She should have thought of that before she shelled out the rent money to buy her grillz and most likely spent the utility money on tats, piercings, and nail art.
They'd be better off working the bill out with the landlord rather than the large interest the pawn shop would give. Sure, they'd get some cash in hand five minutes after walking into a pawn shop but they'd get at least double if they'd put it on ebay. Yeah, I know, these folks can't wait for ebay just like they didn't know the rent would be due.
Thanks for laying that out!
"In Philadelphia, it's worth 50 bucks."
Some people sell their stuff on ebay, but these days I’d sooner trust the pawnbroker than the Paypal-ebay bunch.
A few weeks ago my brother and his wife were looking at getting a small flat screen TV and the pawn shop had dozens of them. Problem was they waited a couple days too long to go back and look. Right after the first of the month everyone’s gubmint deposits went in and all of the TVs were gone. But their friend at the shop told them to come back in a couple of weeks since the back of the shop had dozens more TVs that would be forfeited by then.
One of my favorite movies of all time.
“It was the Dukes. It was the Dukes.”
“Add that up: $40,000 invested at 20% - PER MONTH.”
$8,000. Wouldn’t even get me out of bed.
The cable trolly.
Nearly everything I have looked at in any pawn shop is severely overpriced (almost to retail new value if not as much as, and sometimes more). I’ve told many pawnbrokers that they are insane and I can get exactly what they are trying to sell me brand new retail for the same price as the used beat up junk they are trying to sell me. They never budge and I always walk away.
You’re right about one thing, there are no real bargains outright. The few things I have bought at pawn shops were items that were worth no more than 30 bucks and I paid less than the tag (consumer electronics that lose 50+% of value as soon as they are bought). I have purchased three dubbing cassette decks and three multi CD player units all less than 30 bucks each. Guitars and tools are always, and I do mean always, overpriced. Most pawnbrokers (in fact every one of them I’ve talked to) have no clue what a guitar is worth, what kind of shape they should be in for a given price and how they function or how to care for them while on the sales floor or anywhere else for that matter.
That’s my nickel on the subject.
Usually, but not always true. My dad walked into a pawn shop in Fayetteville 15 years ago and came out with a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar with case for $400. It was worth at least $2000 at the time. At least half of my CD collection has come from pawn shops. It's a buyer's market if you are savvy.
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