Ok, some may know that my former father-in-law owns several pawn shops and that I used to work in a pawn shop. For those who have worked in pawn shops, there is an unwritten rule (well maybe its a written rule) to always try to take advantage of the customers situation. In most cases these days, pawn shops are gathering incredible inventories and not selling very much. This causes two problems...
1. Inventory value's fluctuate, whats worth $100 today may be worth $50 tomorrow...
2. Inventory takes up money that can be spent on new and more valuable items.
This is the thought process behind why pawn shops offer such low prices for items... its not ONLY simple greed, but it is an effect of the business they have chosen to be in.
So here is the story... As a former pawn shop employee I know that GREAT deals can be had right now. (See the above). These shops need people to buy their inventory and they will make some great deals to get cash. So I occasionally make a little circuit of pawn shops in San Diego and Orange County. Today I hit 3 of them looking for some video games for my kids, and of course watches for me. I entered a real dive that has given up a couple great watch deals in the past, Gems and Loans in Vista, CA. Typical shady looking place with some really questionable Hispanic employees.
As I enter and head over to the video game section this Hispanic male about 25 years old approaches me and asks if I am there to get a loan or browse. I explain I dont need a loan today... but I would let him know if I did in the future and he walks away. As I browse he approaches me again and comments on my watch (I was wearing the 1680 that is for sale here). He asks if I was the original owner and I ask if I look old enough to be the original owner and he comments YES... (damn near left the place because of this). I tell him no, and that the watch was a gift. He walks away again.
He walks back a few minutes later and asks if he can take a look at it because he had never seen one of the red subs in person. Im in a good mood, and have no fear at all of letting this kid take a look at it. Of course this is a far cry from an AD, and even if he called it out what could he do/say. So I take it off and hand it to him. He oohs and ahhs over it for a few minutes and hands it back to me and walks away.
Now, he comes back with an older caucasian woman who seems to be the manager of the place. He simply wants to show the watch off to her... At this point I figured that he had convinced himself it was a fake and he was just showing off his incredible knowledge of Rolex watches to his boss. But I was wrong... he is absolutely convinced that it is genuine and so is she. You would have thought I was the Prince of Wales they were so impressed. The woman asks if has ever been serviced (it looks rough on purpose, and this is definately what convinced them it was genuine) and I say I think so... years ago. The kid says he would love to see the movement and that they have a Rolex case opener, and NOW I really think they have caught on... WRONG AGAIN.
I tell them its about time for a service, so sure they can open it and little Johny runs off to get the opener. Amazingly enough he comes out with one of the old fashioned plane propeller Rolex opener. He takes incredible care putting on gloves and doing it over a felt pad... Opens it up and begins to ooh and ahh again.
Obviously he has no freaking idea what a genuine Rolex movement looks like and the simple fact that this is a nickel colored movement with a purple gear, Rolex engraving and a cut out rotor is enough for him... because he now comments, "this thing is in great shape, it must be worth more than my car".
He puts it back together and I put it back on its Panatime NATO and he leaves. He comes back AGAIN (At this point Im not sure I had even looked at anything in the store) and he tells me the woman has authorized him to offer me $2500 on loan or she would consider $5000 to buy it. I tell him that I am not in the market to get a loan or to sell it and I could not put my name on a pawn shop loan document even if I was. He says, dont worry... this would be off the record, she wants it for her husband.
I tell him no thank you, FINALLY find a couple PSP games for the boys and leave... NOW, as I said... I worked in a pawn shop. I dont consider myself a WIS by any stretch of the imagination, but I didnt need to be. We had one at the shop. This shop had a group of morons working there that could have cost the company $5000 had I been a little more adventurous (and dishonest). Lets face it, $5000 would have been nice to walk out with. And given the fact I could replicate the watch for a few hundred dollars I am AMAZED that I didnt take advantage of their stupidity.
The moral of the story is, we really need to be careful NOT to fall in to such a situation and take advantage of it. In CA it is a felony to knowingly sell counterfeit goods as genuine to a pawnshop (Im sure it is illegal everywhere... but I only know the law for pawnshops in CA). But given the fact they wanted no paperwork done, I dont see how they could have caught up with me (maybe video). Knowing the way this operation works, Im convinced he thought it was a $25k-$35k watch and that at $5k he was stealing it from me.
I just thought it was funny as hell, and it nearly convinced myself to keep the watch just so that I could go back every couple weeks and see how high they would continue to offer. I think next time I will wear one of the MBW DRSD's and he can wet his pants.
1. Inventory value's fluctuate, whats worth $100 today may be worth $50 tomorrow...
2. Inventory takes up money that can be spent on new and more valuable items.
This is the thought process behind why pawn shops offer such low prices for items... its not ONLY simple greed, but it is an effect of the business they have chosen to be in.
So here is the story... As a former pawn shop employee I know that GREAT deals can be had right now. (See the above). These shops need people to buy their inventory and they will make some great deals to get cash. So I occasionally make a little circuit of pawn shops in San Diego and Orange County. Today I hit 3 of them looking for some video games for my kids, and of course watches for me. I entered a real dive that has given up a couple great watch deals in the past, Gems and Loans in Vista, CA. Typical shady looking place with some really questionable Hispanic employees.
As I enter and head over to the video game section this Hispanic male about 25 years old approaches me and asks if I am there to get a loan or browse. I explain I dont need a loan today... but I would let him know if I did in the future and he walks away. As I browse he approaches me again and comments on my watch (I was wearing the 1680 that is for sale here). He asks if I was the original owner and I ask if I look old enough to be the original owner and he comments YES... (damn near left the place because of this). I tell him no, and that the watch was a gift. He walks away again.
He walks back a few minutes later and asks if he can take a look at it because he had never seen one of the red subs in person. Im in a good mood, and have no fear at all of letting this kid take a look at it. Of course this is a far cry from an AD, and even if he called it out what could he do/say. So I take it off and hand it to him. He oohs and ahhs over it for a few minutes and hands it back to me and walks away.
Now, he comes back with an older caucasian woman who seems to be the manager of the place. He simply wants to show the watch off to her... At this point I figured that he had convinced himself it was a fake and he was just showing off his incredible knowledge of Rolex watches to his boss. But I was wrong... he is absolutely convinced that it is genuine and so is she. You would have thought I was the Prince of Wales they were so impressed. The woman asks if has ever been serviced (it looks rough on purpose, and this is definately what convinced them it was genuine) and I say I think so... years ago. The kid says he would love to see the movement and that they have a Rolex case opener, and NOW I really think they have caught on... WRONG AGAIN.
I tell them its about time for a service, so sure they can open it and little Johny runs off to get the opener. Amazingly enough he comes out with one of the old fashioned plane propeller Rolex opener. He takes incredible care putting on gloves and doing it over a felt pad... Opens it up and begins to ooh and ahh again.
Obviously he has no freaking idea what a genuine Rolex movement looks like and the simple fact that this is a nickel colored movement with a purple gear, Rolex engraving and a cut out rotor is enough for him... because he now comments, "this thing is in great shape, it must be worth more than my car".
He puts it back together and I put it back on its Panatime NATO and he leaves. He comes back AGAIN (At this point Im not sure I had even looked at anything in the store) and he tells me the woman has authorized him to offer me $2500 on loan or she would consider $5000 to buy it. I tell him that I am not in the market to get a loan or to sell it and I could not put my name on a pawn shop loan document even if I was. He says, dont worry... this would be off the record, she wants it for her husband.
I tell him no thank you, FINALLY find a couple PSP games for the boys and leave... NOW, as I said... I worked in a pawn shop. I dont consider myself a WIS by any stretch of the imagination, but I didnt need to be. We had one at the shop. This shop had a group of morons working there that could have cost the company $5000 had I been a little more adventurous (and dishonest). Lets face it, $5000 would have been nice to walk out with. And given the fact I could replicate the watch for a few hundred dollars I am AMAZED that I didnt take advantage of their stupidity.
The moral of the story is, we really need to be careful NOT to fall in to such a situation and take advantage of it. In CA it is a felony to knowingly sell counterfeit goods as genuine to a pawnshop (Im sure it is illegal everywhere... but I only know the law for pawnshops in CA). But given the fact they wanted no paperwork done, I dont see how they could have caught up with me (maybe video). Knowing the way this operation works, Im convinced he thought it was a $25k-$35k watch and that at $5k he was stealing it from me.
I just thought it was funny as hell, and it nearly convinced myself to keep the watch just so that I could go back every couple weeks and see how high they would continue to offer. I think next time I will wear one of the MBW DRSD's and he can wet his pants.
