Wednesday Feb. 22
After breakfast, I head over to Office Depot to print a label and then to the post office to mail a 14 pound box of junk watches to the eBay winner in Hong Kong. This is the box that Dawn shipped me, and I'm happy to be rid of it and not have to lug it home. It brought $75.55, and it's a good thing I put a protect bid on it in my friend Mario's name, or else the guy would have got for $11.55, which would have really pissed me off because that's about what it cost to have Dawn ship it to me. I "pieced out" another three watches from the box, and got $39 for those. So I figure I grossed about $114 for the box of watches, plus I got three watches out of there to give my friend, Carol, as a gift.
These "bulk lots" of watches used to sell really well on eBay, but they have run their course and people just aren't interested in them any more. So I won't be buying any more of this kind of stuff unless I can pick it up dirt cheap.
After that, I decide to check out a pawn shop that my new watch friend, Chris, recommended. It's called "Gold and Pawn," on Cleveland Ave., and I speak with "Tim," the owner. He's got a nice Bulova automatic on a 30-day hold (law requirement), so I wouldn't be able to even make on offer on it until March 20. And also he's got a gold filled Longines automatic in his jewelry case marked $275 that he says he would take $175 cash for. So maybe I'll return March 20 and make him an offer of $175 for both watches, we'll see.
Close to "Gold and Pawn" is another pawn shop, called "Larry's Pawn," and Chris also told me about this guy. He has six stores located in and around Fort Myers, making him the "king" of Fort Myers pawnbrokers, if that is anything than can be bragged about. Anyway, this particular store is on Cleveland Ave., so I stop and inquire about watches and watch movements. The guy (who I later find out is Larry's son) hauls out about 5 watch movements from the "back room" and plops them down on the counter. I offer $35 for three pocket watch movements: a 12-size Waltham Riverside, and two small Elgin movements (I think zero size), and Mr. Personality says he thinks they're worth $90, and proceeds to scoop them up and walk away with them. I tell him to hold on and not walk away, let's talk, but the guy says no, and says he regrets bringing this stuff out of the back room until he has a chance to "research it" and find out what the stuff is really worth.
So I tell him no hard feelings, and wish him a good day, and I leave. What a jerk. And I later find out from Chris that this kid of Larry's is a total loser, really bad people skills (no kidding) and the only reason he works for his dad at the pawn stores is that he can't get a job anywhere else. So he is kind of the "Chumley" of Larry's Pawn Shop. Chris, my buddy, says to try again, only this time make a call and try to set up an appointment with Larry himself, and deal only with him. So I'll try that.
Anyway, I end my day of "pawn adventures" empty handed, and this is pretty typical of my experience in dealing with pawn brokers. They really don't want to deal with anyone who is knowledgeable and has a clue as to what stuff is really worth. They would rather deal with ignorant people, so the pawnbroker can name his price, and hope the person is stupid enough to pay the price. They would rather hold onto a piece for 10 or 20 years and hope for the "big score" rather than sell it quickly, make a reasonable profit, and turn their inventory. That is why most pawn shops have crap laying around that looks like it's been sitting around for 20 years ... it's because it has. I don't know why I bother, but I keep hoping that one day I'll run into a pawnbroker with some business sense and/or doesn't have their worthless kid working for them. I'll leave a message for Larry and see what happens, and follow this up.
I get an email from Dawn this evening that a card arrived back at the house from nephew-in-law Fred Holmes that he and girlfriend, Ashley, are getting married September 15 in Ephraim, WI, located in Door County. No RSVP requested at this point, just a "save this date" kind of thing. So this is good news, and a mid-September retreat to Door County might be just the thing for yours truly.
No expenses for today.
Bruce
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