Pawn Stars

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TwiceOver

Lifer
Dec 20, 2002
13,544
44
91
hate the show because they rip people off but there are suckers born every minute

It is hardly ripping someone off. Items are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Obviously nobody wants to overpay for an item.
 

wiredspider

Diamond Member
Jun 3, 2001
5,239
0
0
It is hardly ripping someone off. Items are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Obviously nobody wants to overpay for an item.

Yea WTF, the people aren't force to sell their items if they don't want to. I recall people walking away from the offers.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
pickers is done for tv. the tiny amounts they make on most of the stuff they show don't cover their expenses, break it down to an 8 hour day plus the cost of labor to sell the stuff again and they make how much an hour?
 

villageidiot111

Platinum Member
Jul 19, 2004
2,168
1
81
Yeah I can't figure out how pickers could even get close to breaking even. They drive thousands of miles to buy a couple of bikes and some doorknobs for $200, which wouldn't even cover gas money, much less hotels and the rest of the business.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
yea it doesn't make sense. they have atleast 3 people to make payroll for, 2 in the van, one back at the store. driving to each location has to take quite a while, they can't all be close together, hunting down the pick locations has to take time as well, so its unlikely they are going from place to place all that efficiently either. esp since they have to make appointments to be there with the owner. unless they have some big ticket items for "rip off prices" to make fat ass profits off of the model doesn't make sense at all.
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,002
126
hate the show because they rip people off but there are suckers born every minute

They don't rip anyone off. If you want to sell an item for $1000 and I offer you $300, you are free to say no and put it in the paper, craigslist, ebay, etc.

I love watching Pawn Stars. Great show.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
I have been living in Vegas since 1981 and the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop has saved my @ss from rental evictions due to my stupiditie at the tables when i was young and in my twenties. While the show is scripted all the way down to the price negotiations. The staff personalities remain true. Chumlee is very laid back but they use him on the show for comic relief. Rick is always laughing and you can hear him laugh when he is in the back room of the shop.

stupiditie? Really? That's how you think it's spelled? Wow, you weren't kidding. D:

And you say you were even dumber back then?
 

Supersonic64

Senior member
Jun 9, 2010
372
2
0
I love watching Pawn Stars, extremely entertaining. And that's the Pawn Shop business for you, if you don't like it, then don't watch it.
 

Sluggo

Lifer
Jun 12, 2000
15,488
5
81
Speaking of American Pickers, am I the only person who has noticed that Frank may quite possibly be related to Elena Kagen?

Elena_Kagan_1.jpg


american-pickers.jpg
 

fustercluck

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2002
7,402
0
71
Rick Harrison was supposed to be on Letterman a couple weeks ago but he got bumped due to 3 segments of Miley Cyrus :( - Good job, Dave. Bump the one guest i've wanted to see on your show in the last couple months.
 

drquest

Golden Member
Apr 18, 2001
1,148
7
81
I like the show myself... I was in Vegas a couple of weeks ago with my wife and we decided to swing by the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, which is what the shop is actually called to check it out.

We dropped by on Saturday and the place was packed, and happened to see Rick in the back of the store. I got to meet him and my wife took our picture(I won't bore anyone with a picture of me). Some of the other workers said that they didn't know why he was there since usually the guys usually aren't there on the weekends, only 9-4 M-F.

The place is smaller than it looks on TV and all the desks, where you see them a lot are behind a set of walls that you can't see when you walk in.

I saw some of the things that have been on the show, the pirate "treasure" chest, the Rokon Trailbreaker bike etc....
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,580
982
126
I like the show myself... I was in Vegas a couple of weeks ago with my wife and we decided to swing by the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, which is what the shop is actually called to check it out.

We dropped by on Saturday and the place was packed, and happened to see Rick in the back of the store. I got to meet him and my wife took our picture(I won't bore anyone with a picture of me). Some of the other workers said that they didn't know why he was there since usually the guys usually aren't there on the weekends, only 9-4 M-F.

The place is smaller than it looks on TV and all the desks, where you see them a lot are behind a set of walls that you can't see when you walk in.

I saw some of the things that have been on the show, the pirate "treasure" chest, the Rokon Trailbreaker bike etc....

I bet that place is a mad house simply because of the show. Probably hampers their ability to do business to some degree I would imagine.
 

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
6,294
171
106
Pawn Stars is great and anyone who thinks they rip people off is just an idiot. No one is forced to sell anything, and some people just need cash like, now.

Pickers is a good concept but the guys are just lame as hell. Are they gay together? l read that Mike is openly gay but Frank is like his little midget sidekick. Couldn't find much info on him... Regardless there is just something about those two that I can only describe as 'lame'
 

Rudee

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
11,218
2
76
Hate to break it to you, but the show is staged. The production assistant for the show is a friend of the family and people are recruited to be on the show. They don't simply walk in from off the street and get to be filmed. The production team looks for interesting items and interesting people and then a select few get to be filmed. It's much more organized than people think.
 

keyed

Senior member
Feb 21, 2001
478
0
71
I bet that place is a mad house simply because of the show. Probably hampers their ability to do business to some degree I would imagine.

Probably the opposite. Fans are more likely to buy something so they can take it home and say they bought it at the Pawn Star shop. Why buy a t-shirt you'll keep in your drawers when you can buy something you can display all the time. Like Rick said about the Death Clock, it'd be an interesting conversation piece.
 

TehMac

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2006
9,976
3
71
Yeah I enjoy it.

I love the idiots that take 20-30% of the value now when they were just told what they could get at auction by an expert.

True, but Rick's shrewd. He reminds them that an auction house charges certain fees and so points out they have "easy money" that comes quick if they go via him.
 
Nov 5, 2001
18,366
3
0
Yeah I enjoy it.

I love the idiots that take 20-30% of the value now when they were just told what they could get at auction by an expert.

yes, what they could get. They could get $1000. Or the item may not even sell. And the seller pays a steep commision (20%+) and fees, plus the costs of getting the item to auction. Add in profit (obviously they don't do this for nothing).
 

drquest

Golden Member
Apr 18, 2001
1,148
7
81
Oh yeah, definitely staged, but I don't care, still interesting to watch.

Most of the traffic in there is due to the show no doubt. There's other pawn shops on the same couple of blocks, nobody line of people in those. When we were there, people were hauling off t-shirts and mugs with Chumlee's face on them etc...

I picked up an old'ish coin for my daughter and Rick signed it. While there I asked Rick how it was going and he looked out at the crowd of people and said, "Living the dream I guess" and laughed like he does on the show.