Just wondering if any of you all hit the pawn shops to look for tools? Never ceases to amaze me how much Lars has saved in the past with doing this. He especially likes to go when we are traveling. He has gotten some really great tools this way and wonder if any of you all keep on the look out for tools at your local pawn shops?
Tamara
Replies
Well....
I've a personal observation that doesn't favor well with the idea of pawn shops to begin with.
The far greater bulk of them now and historically deal with stolen goods or feed off the hard times of the poor and downtrodden and are mostly run by shuckster type money grubbers.
If you have ever had a tool stolen chances are the person who stole it isn't using it at home but that somehow sooner or later will find itself resting on a pawnshop shelf.
I refuse to purchase any tool at a pawn shop because of this. It would be hard to enjoy the use of a tool knowing that some fellow laborer lost that tool thru a thief and I want nothing to do with it.
It's too bad with today's tech that a giant serial # listing of stolen tools and descriptions isn't available online to help counter this plight on society and at least help return a tool to it's rightful owners.
IMHO of course:o)
Fellow Warriors of Wood Arise and Fight!!!
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
Edited 9/26/2002 12:28:33 PM ET by rez
I take a pass...
Though it's tough to make a blanket statement, the nearest city to me (where the shops are) is notorious for their pawn shops buying/selling stolen tools.
yeah, pawn shops are a pretty complicated moral and ethical issue.
When I was poor and starting out I bought some swell stuff at pawn shops but I always felt kind of sorry afterwards because the odds are that it was pawned by either some alcoholic trying to make the vig on his home or car or alimony, or stolen from a hardworking joe who deserved better.
I have gone back a few times to look around but usually just look.
The stuff that was sold / pawned by a retiring laborer (really the only "ok" reason for the stuff to be there, in my mind) that was not totally worn out would be ok. I guess that's why I like garage sales (when I can find the magic garage sale that is actually selling tools and not baby toys and junk), I can see who is doing the selling and make a more informed decision about how I'm gonna feel about it after.
The best garage sale ever, in my life, was years ago, an old guy who had retired was selling EVERYTHING and I happened by. We talked for quite some time, and he told me about how he had used his tools and I was warmed by the comment from him that he was glad to see that his stuff would go to someone who cared and 'seemed nice'. I still treasure those tools.
I got a lot of my gear for my photography business I had many years ago from yard sales and retiring photograhpers. The portrait and wedding camera I used the most was bought from one such guy for "what ever you can pull out of your right front pocket" and he knew I was broke! I think I gave him my $17 and change. He acted really happy and I got a camera that would have cost many hundred. I've kept it as sort of a memorial to him. I take it out and dust and shoot a roll ever year or so. He taught me how not to lose all my profit in the darkroom which was killing me then.
That said, anybody else that sentimental. Have an old gun you shoot once a year in memory of a friend or relative? Have a tool that you always use when you do a certian thing cause it brings them to mind? I still have my grandfather's handsaw and bench grinder. I always use the saw to build dog houses event though it takes longer cause I watched him do it so many times.
The pawn shops around here (AK) that I've been to charge just about new prices for beat up junk. I havn't tried to dicker, but for anywhere near even half I'd sooner go new w/warranty.
pawn shops are places of ill refute. Stolen from tradesmen, who rely on tools to earn a living and lose out money to replace those tools, by a thief out to earn his drug money. Pawn shops do nothing positive for the economy. They are nothing but a business with little legitiamacy of turning stolen goods. They have lobbied enough to give them no consequences for all the hot merchendise they sell. Its a legal way for theives go get rid of the goods they stole. Insurance rates go up for the victims and non victims because businesses like pawn shops encourage thievery. Id rather urinate on the graves of pawnshop owners then give them any business.
Many moons ago, I was a photgraphy minor in college. The camera that I chose for myself was a Pentax Program Plus.
I loved that camera. Over time, I bought several lenses, (from specialty macros, all the way up through a many hundred power zoom.), and other gear for it. Eventualy there was over a thousand dollars wrapped up in that gear. I actualy earned about 1/4 of that back, using the camera. I did personal photography. I was a staff photog of sorts for the archy dept for a while. Etc.
In short, that camera meant an awful lot to me. More than most tools ever have. I enjoyed working with it, very much.
Fast forward a bit. I broke my back. As a result, I became depressed. (Doc told me later that depression is a 100% surety when you break your back. They don't know why, but they know it as a fact.) I was already undaignosed, and personaly controlled... Bi-polar. The deep depression from the broken back set off the bi-ploarism in a way that I could no longer control by willpower. I started down a dark and slippery slope.
I sold that camera to a pawn shop many times, because I needed just a bit more to make it one month. Then would buy it back for more than I sold it for. Finaly the time came when I could not buy it back, and it was lost to me. The pawn shop guys broke up the 'package', and sold the parts all separately, for almost as much as I had paid for them in the first place.
That was bad enough. As someone else here stated, they took advantage of someone in dire straits.
A few years ago, before I moved out to where I am now... I was in a pawn shop, and saw not one, but three Pentax Program Plus cameras sitting on the shelf. Just like my old camera. Cheapo lenses, but the same camera. I happened to have the money in my pocket, and decided to buy one. 150.00
The lady behind the counter handed me one off the shelf, and allowed me to adjust, click, etc. When I said I'd take it, she put it back on the shelf, and got one out from under the counter. It looked more worn than the others, and I said I'd rather have the one I had had in my hands.
She said that it was policy to get rid of the backstock first, or something like that. I started to argue with her, but my BP got the best of me just then, and rather than have a public panic attack, I bought the camera and left without even testing it.
It was broken.
Would not even click the shutter. Nothing at all worked on the camera. Even with brand new batteries.
I took it back the next week, and they refused to refund, or trade, even though I had my reciept.
That lady might as well have held a gun to my head and stolen 150.00 from me. The result was the same, she stole the 150.00. If I had not been in the condition I was in, this would not have happened. I would have insisted on the camera that I had held. Instead, my condition was exploited. For the second time, by a pawn shop.
Please forgive me if I join the others here, in looking down my nose at pawn shops.
Cut me some slack here
Quittin' Time
Side note on the tools: Neighbor worked for the Police, and in the discussion of things I mentioned engraving my tools... His recommendation was to engrave my drivers license number, STATE, and YEAR on it. They recover stuff, but really can not track a Soc. Sec. number on their computer. A number with D.L. xxxxxxxx with TEXAS and 2002 gives them a much better lead.
My brother got some of his stuff stolen... later recovered. The cops thanked him as he had the ONLY traceable stuff to prove it was stolen. Busted a theft ring, and despite the amount of stuff only had HIS things to trace.
Around here... only stopped in a few, lots of junk for more than you find at the big box store. Only good deal is a short 12 gauge "riot" shotgun. If they resell it, they have to verify it is legal length. Something about a that pump sound makes more folks think twice before doing anything dumb!
Of old tools... have a snap on rachet that my father bought in 1936 (???). The Snap-On script is barely visible, but I still use it. Must admit it is one of my favorite tools... funny to think of it being over 60 years old!
Tom
That is a definate case of fraud and it should be reported to the BBB and I would say you took the one she handed you. There are still things that you can do after the fact in cases like that.
I'd have walked. Anytime somebody tries to shaft you, walk. Just laugh at them and walk. I've pissed off more than a few AH operators like that. I was a regular at a pawn shop that also sold new firearms just outside Ft. McClelland where they are going to burn the chem weapons. The shop changed hands when I was not around. When I went in to look and picked out something to buy. The guy handed me a boxed one instead of the one I had been looking at and it had been opened. I just laid it on the counter and told him we needed to look at it since the factory seal was broken. He tried to give me some speal about getting serial numbers (BS, they are stamped on the box at factory who has more to lose than him by doing it wrong) so I asked for my guy, the old owner. He said he had bought the shop from him so he was it. I just walked out the door without saying anything else. All pawn operators aren't jerks, but some are. True of contractors, dentists, doctors, plumbers, electricians, morticians.... geez, maybe anyone. Think pawn guys are vultures, what about the 'cash for your check to day' guys with their 400% interest?
OMG no I didn't even think of that. I am going to talk to Lars and ask him did he ever consider what you all have said. For the most part I can see exactly where you are coming from. A pawn shop in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (where I use to live before moving here to NC) had LOTS of tools. Reason....a lot of people lost their jobs during the Clinton years. Remember OR is nuclear city. Anyway long story short Lars hit the one pawn shop as we were heading out and hit some good deals. Of course what I worried about was that they were all going to glow in the dark. No joke. One day if you guys are interested I will tell you some stories about the "city that glows". I will say that one place that I know where people try to get rid of stuff are flea markets. Thanks for the information. Tamara
Interested? INTERESTED? Hah! With a lead in line like 'the city that glows' I'll even open a new thread for ya in the tavern.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
I told Lars about this thread last night. First off I appreciate you guys clueing me in on pawn shops. I knew that when people needed extra money they did this, and should have known that people that steal things do this. Just honestly didn't "think" about it.
The city that glows. Well as you know I am making that part up, but with all the stuff that went on during the making of the atomic bomb the city of OR is known to have some areas that are in question. I still own a house there. I lived in the house for almost two years before meeting and marrying Lars. I had a black cat that was about two at the time. She had during the time that I lived there lost almost all her hair. She was SOooooooo skinny no matter how much I fed her! When it was time to load up the truck to move I told Lars we should go ahead and have her put to sleep. I thought she had cancer. He told me that we should just take her and see how she does in Western NC. After about two months living here her hair grew back and she started finally putting weight on. Now what I am about to say is my own interpertation. I think that she was dying from living where I lived. I would even venture to say it was either the mice, rodents, that were making her sick. Now I cannot prove this, but she is doing great after being here over three years. Just she cannot have kittens. I think she is also sterile from all of this.
I don't want to go into too much detail here incase the gov't comes here:-) but you have to know that they literally covered up equipment that had been contaminated with all that junk. LITERALLY buried the stuff in the ground. My concern is that it will continue to affect the people that live there. I am not saying they still are buring things (these things have even been big heavy equipment NO JOKE). I worked home health physical therapy for many years. The area of OR has high cancer, but the people "down stream" even more cases of cancer. There was a doctor that tried to uncover some of the things that were going on, but lets just say we didn't get to hear too much or they explained things away.
I know that just recently I got in trouble for not getting the story straight. The above is from personal experience. The stuff about the buring of contaminated heavy equipement etc. is correct. Don't ask me to go find the information to prove it. There are things that the public NEVER knows about, but people that live in areas like these know about it. Things may have gotten better in OR and it is a great little town, but I have to say I am glad that I am not living there anymore. My cat is also.Tamara
there is another thread around here about the lead in gasoline (and paint) and how much harm it has probably caused people over the years.
The goings on at Oak Ridge (and a few other places, and of course the test area in New Mexico) during the development of the atomic bomb are probably much scarier than lead in gasoline!
The whole atomic bomb story is so fantastic and amazing, and so creapy and unnerving all at the same time. What incredible feats of engineering, both theoretical and practical, that were accomplished in such a short time (and during the worst war in human history, no less) it just boggles the mind (let's test my memory here):
- two entirely different methods of causing fission were developed, including the design and construction of the 'devices' themselves.
- THREE whole processing plants were designed, built and brought into production (and these places were HUGE!!) just in hopes that one of them would work out (each plant was designed to attack the problem a slightly different way to hedge our bets) to refine the Uranium and to produce the Plutonium with which to make the two different kind bombs.
- no aircraft on the planet, or on the drawing boards, in 1939 was capable of carrying the darn things (way too heavy) far enough so a whole new craft was designed, developed and produced (the B-29), again, during the worst war...
- in our spare time, the US also built the Pentagon (the biggest building in the world) (ok, this one they didn't finish before August 1945, but they got pretty close).
- and what the heck, they also built the worlds largest dam (the one in Washington, what's that one, the Grand Coolie I think?)
It seems that the more there is to learn about what was accomplished during those five years the more incredible it gets to think about.
The fact that the atomic bomb is such an awful thing and that developing it has surely poisoned many, many people (quite a few of them Americans who were just doing their job) goes a long way to taking away all that was gained and should never be forgotten.
And no, I do not think that we should try to sue someone for that one, I am sick of seeing layers get rich (they get most of the money most of the time, right?).
Oh, and I'm glad to hear that your cat grew her hair back.
:o)
We had a ship in So Pacific that made 500# or 5000# of ICE CREAM an hour! That's a good ship! That just amazed me. We could make tons of ice cream an hour at a time the enemy was trying just to keep the war effort going.
Wilburn,
First, I want to say that I had not intended most of that to be directed to you. I should have hit the "all" button. It was just more convenient to leave it that way, because your post was the original one about photgraphy equipment. Sorry if it came across in any negative way.
Second.. My whole point was that I was unable to do those things. I am not a stupid person. I have a lot of common sense. I know of those options. And more. Before the bipolar problems began, I was never a timid person either. If I had gone into the pawn shop just 5 years ealier, I would have walked out with a working camera or nothing at all.
It has been at least 5 years since I bought the camera. I don't have a reciept anymore. The pawn shop could have changed owners by now. (Heck, it could be completely gone now, for all I know.) Etc. I simply have nothing but a broken camera and my word for it that I got it at that particular pawn shop. While I would be in better shape to handle the confrontation now, It is not worth pursuing anymore. And it was not something that I was capable of doing at the time.
Like I said, my whole point was that at that time, I simply could not do anything to keep myself from being taken advantage of, and she took advantage.
...
And don't even get me started on those legal loan sharks. LOL The only time I was ever stung by them, was at the same time that I ended up losing my own camera equipment to the pawn shop.
Cut me some slack here
Quittin' Time
Sorry to hear it. I hope things are getting better all the time....
I'm glad you can help yourself out this way.
But
The hesitancy these guys express is because most tools in pawn shops got stolen off some poor craftsmans truck. As a general rule, in a good economy such as we have haad, anyone who owns a good quality tool can afford to keep it or if he wanted to sell it, he could get three times the money a pawn will offer by selling to another tradesman.
So there is a concensus to boycott pawns here so as not to provide market to encourage thievery.
I'm sure you didn't know
I've gotten a few good deals at garage sales that seem a lot less likely to be "hot" goods. But name-brand tools are few and far between. (Does that help prove the point? People just do not sell their own good tools).
What I have found is tools of older/dead tradesmen, name-brand stuff from a services firm closing up shop, and the occasional beater tool (e.g. a sidewinder that I always keep loading with an abrasive blade).
The really good building bargains are the odd 2x4's, solvents, and supplies that no one wants to move to the new house. Often it can be had for "$5 for that whole pile?". Then you have more leftovers at your own place, but that was another thread.
David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
I have a guy at my church that he and his brother own a pawn shop. They do pretty well. He makes little on tools and most of what he has is the 'well worn, somebody wanted a few bucks toward the replacement' type tools. Also, I had a few cases of tools stolen from where I stored them at my sister's house while moving. One of my other sisters' kids was somehome involved. They all wound up getting pawned for beer and crap for the little HS weasels. I still want to kick his butt over it.
Anyway, back to pawns. The two I deal with will refuse a new looking tool if you can't provide proof of original purchase. I watched David, the guy from church, turn away a group of guys with a brand new looking compressor. It was obviously a work crew. They either 'found' somebody elses or were selling one provided to them for some extra $$$. I bought my well worn Paslode 325 coil framer there. I didn't know the grip was diamond surfaced until I saw a newer one and that that wasn't some over pressure vent hole in the top plate ;-) but it works a lot better than it looks.
I usually make my rounds, in the winter time, that's when tools are usually spilling out into the floor. Depending on where I'm at, I can visit 4-6 on the way home. Not many bargains.
# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
Have to echo others that pawn shops are usu a ripoff for both the person putting the item up for sale, and the person buying it. Have never looked for tools, nor bought/sold an item, but musical instruments and jewelry can be found for better deals almost anywhere else. Even before I knew exactly what it meant, I always thought these places laundered money.
I'm not a pawn shop person. But in addition to what has been stated above, in an area that has a lot of them (like a military base) they are generaly owned by one person. This is why there's generaly no price difference from shop to shop. I have noticed one thing on E-Bay if you thumb through enough power tools and check the sellers out there is more then one pawn shop selling tools through them.
Ya- plenty of sites selling reconditioned tools at a good price with warranty. Makes buying a truly "used" tool over the internet sight onseen a void issue.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
Yes more then once when a tool went out for a crap have I heard someone suggest unloading it on E-Bay.
Ya- nephew got hooked up to buy on ebay and I can't get listed to bid somehow but that's alright 'cause that'll help limit compulsive buying which sometimes I can be guilty of. i.e: a Bammer(bought a lie without researching); black walnut barn beam(still can't figure that one out); cheap shoes(oh gawd help me); cheap handtools($3 tapemeasures ya right);better stop 'fore I embarrass myself.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
"Hello I'm Gunner and I too have purchased a Bammer." It's definatly a demon from my past. Can't find fuel cylanders for them now.
Okay, now I've gleened some useful information from the site. And that is......when I'm at Lowes and Home Depot jacking fellow contractors toolboxes(which are facing away from the store and away from the cameras) I should NOT take the proceeds to the pawn shop, but rather have a few garage sales a year, and advertise a tool liquidation, and have my old dad sit outside and claim they are his from his long career and he wants someone to have them that will appriciate them... that way we get full price on sentimental value.
I did get a paslode pp nailer(joist hanger nailer) from e-bay and from a pawn shop seller at that. Since I only paid $150, I bet it was a hot one.....damn I hate that. What a scam.... get it hot, sell it on e-bay, and 9 out of 10 times it goes out of state and out of mind.