Down here at the pawn shop

[BigV]

So, happiness is *not* a warm gun?

I feel... betrayed.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

... When it's hot people get all shooty.

Well sure, people slow down when it's hot. Then someone comes along and tells them to get the lead out. So they do.

[Clodfobble]

When it's hot they can't do their Matrix dodge moves, that's all.

[footfootfoot]

Down at the pawn shop
Just three boys
Gettin all shooty
makin some noise

saying, do they like guns a lot?
(yes they like guns a lot)
do they like guns a lot?
(yes they like guns a lot) do they like guns a lot?
(yes they like guns a lot)

[Undertoad]

Pawn shop time for me is greatly reduced. No time in August.

This may be the end. As shop traffic declines, fewer items come out of pawn each week. The regular staff can list more things on eBay. It takes them twice the time it takes me; but since everything is slow, they still have enough time to do the listings.

I think the shop is falling victim to a perfect storm:

1) Price of gold is off - this is huge; it's lost a third in just two years
2) Laws tighten to document pawn customers, persuading thieves (and others?) to fence through other channels
3) Neighborhood retail foot traffic down; other retailers on the block close, or are shitty, or are criminal and are shut down
4) Economy improved, less desperation, no need to pawn shit to pay the electric bill
5) Shitty attitude of certain shop employees convinces neighborhood that shop is no good and should be avoided
6) All the gold that could be sold, has been sold
7) Owner Alan not really the creative/entrepreneurial sort, who might imagine a different business model and adapt to different and changing conditions

But here's the one I think really matters:

The laws of all retail changed. Walmart and the Internet changed how retail works. They compete with the pawn shops; they lower the prices for everyone, as they change how choices and distribution work.

After a decade of it affecting everyone else, it affected the ghetto.

Well, it's really rare for any retail location to survive so long. And who knows, maybe something will change; maybe the shop will find some mojo it has needed all along. Worker Steve is hoping eBay commissions will save the day. It could mean more listings.

I doubt it. I don't think it lasts another year.

[xoxoxoBruce]

They've provided a needed service for a long time, but can't last if not needed by enough people.
Hell, they provided what you needed when you needed it, luckily.

[sexobon]

Let us know when the pawn shop gets desperate enough to start buying these again, since we now have a source to get them in bulk at wholesale prices.

[Undertoad]

And that's it: Steve has learned enough to do the listings, and since volume is way down, he can manage it during regular hours.

It may not be the end. If either of Alan's two remaining employees leaves, he'll ask me to come back, probably three out of four Saturdays.

At least one of his guys is looking for work. Both of them should be. It's not going to get better.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You probably have mixed emotions about this. We know you felt pretty leery of the neighborhood and it's residents, but it was an interest experience.

[Undertoad]

It has been a phenomenal experience. Nobody else should have this experience. But at this point, it's turned into a crappy way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

[monster]

Did you actually need the job any more?

[Undertoad]

I have put everything into the budget and it still works. It's very tight, I was expecting half time at the shop, not zero time. But I'm also looking for another regular job, because money and career. Two resumes drop Monday evening.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Damn, I better get you to adjust my imitation jumbotron wall, before you move on to rich and famous.

[Undertoad]

I'm not there but Steve still is, and he reports that somebody offered a Nazi cane today.



Not like original 1940s Nazi but newfangled modern nutjob Nazi

He didn't buy it.

[Undertoad]

He follows up, "It was the first time I had had a conversation with someone who did not know who the Nazis were, nor what the holocaust was... I managed to keep a straight face and patiently gave the seller the cliffs notes... casually hinted to the seller that the Jewish ownership might object to the item."