Originally posted by Doubless:
quote:
AFA pawn shop owners go, they are not a charity, they are in a business to make money AND they provide a last ditch service for thousands of people every day that usually have no bank account, and no other resource for quick cash.
I see pawn shops as taking advantage of folks down on their luck, and doing it willingly. One incident I witnessed at a local pawn shop several years ago, and I will leave the subject alone.
I was in one of our local shops when a young man came in, wanting to redeem a firearm he had pawned. The owner of the shop told him "Hey, man. It is easy to see you are good for the loan. Just pay me the interest, and use the rest of your money to pay the other bills. Your rifle isn't going anywhere; just pay me the interest."
I don't know what happened after that because the exchange made me sick, and I left. I have every belief that what happened was the youngster paid the interest, then left the store. At that point the pawn shop had even LESS in the firearm than the ridiculously low amount that was probably paid initially.
And so it goes: the man comes in every week to pay the "interest", in effect giving back to the pawn shop what it originally loaned against the item. Then the man hits a rough spot and loses his job. At that point, all bets are off, and the pawn shop puts the rifle on the sell rack with virtually nothing in it, since it has been paid back for what was originally loaned. What the rifle sells for is then pure profit, and the young man down on his luck is long forgotten.
I am sure there are pawn shops that tout themselves as being very fair. Somehow, I find that pretty hard to believe. I have seen what they offer on firearms, and I have seen the prices they put on them when they are put up for sale.