3 Things You May Want To Know About The Pawn Shop Business (But Never Asked)
Posted on: 14 June 2019
You probably have visited one of these shops at least one time, and you may have even gotten a pawn loan a time or two as the average consumer. Pawn shops are sort of a trademark thing in the United States, and these lenders really do offer a valuable service. You can walk into a pawn shop with an item of value and walk away with a cash loan. When you get the money to pay back the loan, simply go and exchange your cash plus fees for the return of your item. You probably know the basic pawn loan process, but you may also have a few questions.
How many loans to pawn shops offer every year?
It would be hard to measure exactly how many items are pawned every year by American consumers, but there are a few figures that go to show just how many people do use pawn services to get cash. In the United States, there are at least 11,000 pawn shops, according to Forbes. The pawn industry actually brings in an astounding $14.5 billion in revenue, and 30 million Americans visit these shops every year to pawn something.
What happens to all the stuff that doesn't get picked up?
As you can probably imagine, most pawn shops take in a lot of items on pawn that are never retrieved. For the most part, this stuff gets placed out on the store shelves for sale to try to recoup whatever was paid for the item and maybe a bit of profit. If a pawn shop takes in so much stuff that they cannot liquidate it, they may sell it through other means, such as on an online auction site like eBay or Mercari. However, the majority of the items end up being sold in store. It is common practice for some pawnbrokers to slow down accepting items for pawn if their inventory is growing too large.
What is the most commonly pawned item at a pawn shop business?
Electronics are actually the topmost pawned item at a pawn shop, so things like smartphones, laptop computers, cameras, and televisions are pretty commonly pawned. Antiques and collectible items are also pretty common, especially in some places. There can actually be major regional differences in commonly pawned items from state to state. For instance, pawn shops in Florida and Colorado take a lot of vehicles on pawn, but guns are more common in some other states.
For more information, reach out to a pawn shop such as Wimpey's Pawn Shop.
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