ATLANTIC CITY HOTEL & CASINO ROOMS
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Swap Meat
EDITORIAL REVIEW
Ever wondered how pawnshops work? Suppose you need some quick cash to hold you over for a couple of days. The only thing you have of worth is your Rolex Submariner watch that you bought for almost $3000. Here's how it'll go down. In a nutshell, the pawnbroker is lending you cash against the collateral of your watch. When you bring the watch to the pawnshop, the store keeper will determine how much cash it's worth...to him. It won't be anywhere near it's re-sale price or it's actual price. For our example, let's say it's $300. Ten percent of the item's original retail value is probably a good estimate of what you can expect, but shops vary and you can definitely do some negotiating.
Description of "The Goods" - The Item to be Pawned
A gold bracelet with diamond clusters. The appeal of the bracelet were the key words of "gold" and "diamond" - meant to appeal to a new love interest on her birthday. Fortunately for the author, the relationship went bust before I gave her the bracelet. Fortunately for the jeweler, I already bought the darn thing and couldn't return it. The bracelet was purchased from a reputable jeweler in the area and retailed for $405. Since this jeweler had been involved with several other attempts at seduction, I got a break on the price and he sold it to me for $275. I thought it was still a bit steep, but the chance to "wow" this girl was worth it or so I thought back then. The bracelet spent months in my drawer and caused issues with my current ( and much better) girlfriend, so the chance to get rid of it and get some cash back made it the perfect candidate for pawning.
How It Went Down at the Pawnshop
We visited about 6 pawnshops in Atlantic City, but due to the request of the shop-owners, we won't mention which ones. I think they were afraid of CityAtlantic blowing the lid off the story that pawn shops are generally not the best way to get some cash.
As we found out, it didn't really matter much. The details about a specific shop are pretty much irrelevent. They all look the same and have the same procedures: slide your item under the bullet-proof glass, wait for an appraisal, then try to negotiate.
The following is an amalgamation of the dialogue I had with each pawnshop owner. In reality, the dialogue with each person only varied by two or three words at the most. They must get the same script to follow when they graduate pawning school.
Pawn Shop Broker: (looking through jewelers loop) Hmm, uh huh, ok. So how much do you want for it?
City Atlantic: Well, as you can see, I paid $275 for it. (At this point I hold up my receipt, but not one person looks at it).
Pawn Shop Broker: It's not worth that much, so how much do you want?
City Atlantic: $100?
Pawn Shop Broker: My friend, you're not going to be happy with my answer and I don't want to get you upset.
City Atlantic: (getting upset) What'll give me for it?!
Pawn Shop Broker: 30 bucks, take it or leave it.
**Actual price varied from $20 to $40.
Two or three of the nicer shop owners said something along the lines of "You look like a good kid, why don't you keep it and give it to your mother".
One pawnbroker went the distance and explained the low price to me. "Buddy, you've got a chain that's 10 Karat gold - one of the softest and cheapest around. And diamonds? Sure they're diamonds, but they're diamond chips that are glued together. Most people will pop the jewels out and melt it down for scraps. "
In other words, if were to sell it to him for $40, I would actually be getting ripped off twice on the same bracelet. The person who really burned me was the jeweler who sold it to me originally.
My experiece with the pawnshops taught me a couple of valuable lessons; be more careful and do some homework when you buy jewelry, don't pawn anything unless you really want to get rid of it and never buy jewelry for nookie.
Description of "The Goods" - The Item to be Pawned
A gold bracelet with diamond clusters. The appeal of the bracelet were the key words of "gold" and "diamond" - meant to appeal to a new love interest on her birthday. Fortunately for the author, the relationship went bust before I gave her the bracelet. Fortunately for the jeweler, I already bought the darn thing and couldn't return it. The bracelet was purchased from a reputable jeweler in the area and retailed for $405. Since this jeweler had been involved with several other attempts at seduction, I got a break on the price and he sold it to me for $275. I thought it was still a bit steep, but the chance to "wow" this girl was worth it or so I thought back then. The bracelet spent months in my drawer and caused issues with my current ( and much better) girlfriend, so the chance to get rid of it and get some cash back made it the perfect candidate for pawning.
How It Went Down at the Pawnshop
We visited about 6 pawnshops in Atlantic City, but due to the request of the shop-owners, we won't mention which ones. I think they were afraid of CityAtlantic blowing the lid off the story that pawn shops are generally not the best way to get some cash.
As we found out, it didn't really matter much. The details about a specific shop are pretty much irrelevent. They all look the same and have the same procedures: slide your item under the bullet-proof glass, wait for an appraisal, then try to negotiate.
The following is an amalgamation of the dialogue I had with each pawnshop owner. In reality, the dialogue with each person only varied by two or three words at the most. They must get the same script to follow when they graduate pawning school.
Pawn Shop Broker: (looking through jewelers loop) Hmm, uh huh, ok. So how much do you want for it?
City Atlantic: Well, as you can see, I paid $275 for it. (At this point I hold up my receipt, but not one person looks at it).
Pawn Shop Broker: It's not worth that much, so how much do you want?
City Atlantic: $100?
Pawn Shop Broker: My friend, you're not going to be happy with my answer and I don't want to get you upset.
City Atlantic: (getting upset) What'll give me for it?!
Pawn Shop Broker: 30 bucks, take it or leave it.
**Actual price varied from $20 to $40.
Two or three of the nicer shop owners said something along the lines of "You look like a good kid, why don't you keep it and give it to your mother".
One pawnbroker went the distance and explained the low price to me. "Buddy, you've got a chain that's 10 Karat gold - one of the softest and cheapest around. And diamonds? Sure they're diamonds, but they're diamond chips that are glued together. Most people will pop the jewels out and melt it down for scraps. "
In other words, if were to sell it to him for $40, I would actually be getting ripped off twice on the same bracelet. The person who really burned me was the jeweler who sold it to me originally.
My experiece with the pawnshops taught me a couple of valuable lessons; be more careful and do some homework when you buy jewelry, don't pawn anything unless you really want to get rid of it and never buy jewelry for nookie.
Top 10 Things Heard Outside Pawn Shops
10. (On the way in) There's absolutely no way I'm accepting less than $100 for this.
9. (On the way out) I think $20 was a pretty good deal.
8. Now I know where to go if I ever need to get a gun & prosthetic leg from the same store.
7. A few hours of blackjack and we'll be able to buy grandma's necklace right back.
6. It looks just like a diamond. They'll never know the difference.
5. Keep the motor running.
4. I'm due! My streak of bad luck can't last much longer.
3. This is all going on black.
2. What kind of pawn shop doesn't take blood?
1. Gold is gold, whether it's been in my mouth or not.
Best Pawnshop Scene in a Movie: Trading Places