I am a 14 year prosecutor (District Attorney) and I can confirm that Pawn Shops knowingly play a part in facilitating theft. People wouldn't steal this stuff if pawn shops wouldn't give them any money for it - no questions asked. One thing you can do through your local law enforcement agency is to present an Ordinance to your City Council/County to require the Pawn Shops to be required to get a picture ID, take a picture of anyone hocking this stuff and keep a ledger and to criminally charge the pawn broker if they fail to comply with the Ordinance. If every govt. entity required that than all of sudden some meth head wouldn't be rifling through your truck or garage in the middle of the night stealing your tools and getting 3 bucks for them, or if they do the next day you the cops can go check the ledger and find out who stole your stuff. I have prosecuted pawn shop owners from hiding expensive jewelry that some meth head sold them for 3 bucks from the cops in the hopes of selling it for $1,200 on ebay later. Citizens needs to put pressure and lobby your local officials to hold pawn shops accountable.
people definitely would steal stuff. A common practice I see are tools being fenced through an "innocent" 3rd party on facebook marketplace. In hindsight I know that's been a couple transactions I've had.
I've seen locals selling tools that I would put hard money on that are stolen. They set up some tables on the corner of the highway and sell a bunch of, guess what, yellow and red tools. I work the retail side of this stuff, it happens a lot. People will do all kinds of things to get this stuff, and it's interesting to see how some of these rings work. Corporate has some media about previous busts and stings that I always enjoy watching.
I use to work investigating organized retail crime. It’s a crazy scene. Most pawn shops turn a blind eye or feign ignorance to a brand new $500 combo kit being sold by in most cases, an addict, for $100. There have also been numerous cases where the pawn shops have been more proactive by providing a list of models they want to sell and providing it to their frequent pawners, kind of a wink and nod type deal, knowing these tools are going to be brand new. In a few rare cases, the pawn shop was a fence set up to sell these tools, going as far as to drive the pawners to these stores with list to purposefully steal tolls so they could sell them at their shop. But there are a handful of shops that refuse to sell new tools as a way to do their part in curbing this cycle. In that situation you are present a brand new tool with brand new scrapes that has been drug around a parking lot to throw off the scent of being stolen. Pawn shops aren’t the only perpetrators. Online sites like FB market place and eBay are rife with these tools. It is what it is.
Doc I assume, you take your Rolex off before entering said pawn shops? Cable can be replaced with bike brake cable. Take the cable apart and check the crimps, and insure they are tight before your first use.
Most states have very stringent laws concerning pawnshops. They have to take ID from the person turning the item and write down serial numbers if there are any. As a detective when I worked, my job was I had to go around to pawn shops look at the names and what they turned in and try to match them up to any burglaries that we had in the area . Now days a lot of states also have a computerized throughout the state so now all you have to do is look in the data bank for that serial number
My initial concern would be what if it was some field tech that got ripped off, but that happens a lot and on my experience the company tends to take responsibility and replace the tools. We’ve replaced tools for our technicians in the past and specifically one guy got broken into 3 times and we adapted. We locked the gate (only guy that left his service truck at work) we installed exterior door locks, we made sure his one key tools were registered, we upgraded the tool boxes in the vehicles etc. it’s just the cost of doing business especially if your in an unsavory neighborhood. (Bay Area, I’m not Californian and I don’t vote here so do t blame me). San Leandro we have a problem with it, but that’s mostly been post Covid. South San Francisco and for the techs who take their vehicles home we havnt had any issues. A lot of our customers have had issues though.
I stock up on certain things from pawn shops for instance 1/2" snap on pneumatic impacts I can get them between 75 and 125 all day around me and then if I needs a rebuild I take advantage of the snap on flat rate and during COVID they weren't doing rebuilds they were just sending new guns for the flat rate 😂 so I bought a bunch and sent them off and got new guns just sitting around
Cabo they make Harbor Freights Tools they make the icon line anything with that little brass piece at the end with a ratcheting part is is usually Cabo
I wish Pawn Shops here in San Diego had the kind of stuff (and condition) you come across in Montana. Every place I have been in has absolutely beat to shit, and the prices are often higher than new.
Same for a pawnshop in the San Gabriel Valley near LA. A very worn Milwaukee Sawzall for 10 bucks less than a new one at the Home Depot 3 miles away. Told the guy and made a lower offer which he refused "someone will buy it because they think pawnshops are always low prices." So a waste of time even looking around here.
I've asked pawn shop clerks about the high prices or even above retail price and one answer that made sense is that many customers trade items and Home Depot won't allow you to trade your pocket knife, lawn mower and game controller for a Sawzall that you now need for work.
The police don’t care, the stores don’t care, the pawn shop doesn’t care…you don’t care…who should care? How about the hard working man who had all his tools stolen out of the truck or job site by a piece of trash and then pawned for pennies on the dollar?
Though many of the back stories are sad, pawn shops are regulated and there are other efficient ways to sell your tools for cash. So I’m OK with that. In the earlier piece, the parts that made me wince were the dishonesty you engaged in - like throwing in a good chisel with a junk one to save yourself a buck. My integrity is worth a lot more. You asked.
The chisel situation didn’t bother me, I didn’t think it was unethical. It wasn’t dishonesty, it was a shrewd business deal. Its the seller’s responsibility to know what they have and what it’s worth on the market.
There was nothing dishonest about the deal. He didn't do anything other than ask about the price of the chisels, and then asked if he could buy another at the same price. What should he have done differently? Should he have pulled up the chisel on the manufacturer's website and insist upon paying more than was being asked? An assertion without evidence is invalid.
At what point does it become the person making the poor decision their responsibility? A casino won't tell you to stop gaming, a jewelry store wont tell u a piece is out of your league. Everyone in today's generation wants to blame everything on someone else. Thats not how the world works.
The most expensive Snap-On impact is $1,000 and your dealer should be able to knock that down a bit. Anybody that can’t afford $900 over the course of a year has bigger problems than just tool debt
The Democrat super majority here in Albuquerque New Mexico has caused most pawn shops to have to close their doors by mandating every person rather seling or pawning must have their photo taken by the store and put in a database accessible by apd. New mexico is not business friendly and extremely soft of crime
Man I got lucky and got a set of bluepoint reversible ratchet wrenches 8mm-19mm brand new still in plastic with 2023 date codes for 150 bucks. 450 on the truck. Got that 2 weeks ago, about to head up there now, they got a bit of snap on stuff, alot of its brand new but their prices are kinds wierd, some are too high and some are crazy low like the wrenches I got
Cabo they make Harbor Freights Tools they make the icon line anything with that little brass piece at the end with a ratcheting part is is usually Cabo
I would say, at the end of the day, you have to be able to live with whatever you do. I remember buying an 18v dewalt drill for $40 when I was right out of college. I felt so guilty about buying something that could have been stolen that I never used the tool and gave it away.
I tend to avoid buying stuff from pawn shops, I just don’t like the idea that it’s possible the stuff was stolen from somebody. That’s just my personal opinion though. As always great video Doc!
I make a point to not turn a blind eye and do not buy tools that are most likely hot. As a tradesman I’ve had my tools stolen before. It’s costly, it’s inconvenient, and it sucks that they are being sold at 10% of value. I hate thieves and even hate more the little to no punishment handed down to the ones that do get caught.
Cabo they make Harbor Freights Tools they make the icon line anything with that little brass piece at the end with a ratcheting part is is usually Cabo
I’m going to a tool haul phase buying Mac Tools via Facebook market place, eBay and Mercari. And the value is amazing, one just has to be patience to find them in excelente shape and good price.
Around here at least most of the pawn shops seem legit since all they ever have is worn out junk. It's pretty rare I've ever seen anything that isn't overpriced Harbor Freight stuff.
And I would add there is nothing preventing you from buying a stolen tool at an auction, swap meet or a garage sale either. If you are going to limit yourself to avoiding anything that seems like too good a deal it should apply to everywhere and not just pawn shops.
people constantly get rid of tools for less money than they're worth. People die. People get divorced. People retire. All these things happen and unfortunately it takes A LOT of time to get rid of things. You could spend months trying to sell off items from an estate. Sure some things will go fast, others won't. It's a major problem . So pawn shops do offer some relief. I'd be interested if pawn shops offer better value on used video games than gamestop does. All those companies are gonna buy low and sell high.
@@nachoismeThieves know selling specific stolen items is easy at pawn shops, but hard anywhere else. Like tools for example, thieves won't sell them on Craigslist. So yeah, if there wouldn't be pawnshops, there would be much less stolen item that can be only fenced at pawnshops.
I have a couple pawn shops I go to. They seem to be a more legitimate shops. I think they are great secondary markets. I may not want to meet up with a FB marketplace etc. But life has a full of choices. Everyone can choose to shops or not.
Well for me it's a problem of the times that it seems like a victimless crime. It really makes you think about how much the big box stores make off the normal sale of tools. 🤔
