Preventing and dealing with theft losses.....The Pawn Shop

[Aquaman01]

Hi ya'll.

I've noticed a rise in postings regarding thefts of fishing/boating gear. Times are tough and the lowest moral rungs of our society respond to real and percieved economic threats with criminal behavior.

I work in a pawn shop. It's a good, fun job and I make a fair living helping people save a buck or two. Before I get scorned or flamed, let me explain a couple of things;

1-Most thieves do not fence items at a pawn shop. That is TV cop show jibberish. Most organized thieves have buyers lined up already.

2-A pawn shop is a lending institution, not a 'hot shop' and classified similiarly to banks in the eyes of government regulations. When a dumb thief signs off on the paperwork that they "claim legal ownership of the aforementioned items" and it turns out they really stole it - now they have defrauded a lending institution for the purposes of getting money.

They just robbed a bank, and it's a felony.

How do you get your stuff and catch the guy?

File a police report IMMEDIATELY with detailed descriptions including model #'s, colors, and serial #'s if possible. By law, we have to hold all items for at least 30 days prior to pulling them for resale. This time period allows the city police dept. to review our daily intake reports. Every item we take in is reported to the city police dept for this purpose.

So, don't waste your time and effort playing Starsky and Hutch at all your neighborhood pawn shops looking for your stuff. They won't tell you anything because protecting the privacy of their legitimate clients is very important.

Your time is better utilized filing a complete police report and following up with them often, than it is calling pawn shops asking if they took in a 36lb thrust Minnkota this past week. "yup, I took in ten of 'em. Is yours the black one?"

Seriously though - protect your stuff with locks and protect your investment with documentation.

[zebco4040]

Quote:

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Seriously though - protect your stuff with locks and protect your investment with documentation.

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Even better yet with video!!! Most (if not all) insurance companies will store the video for you if you want. Take an hour and video everything in your house take a little more time on expensive items and there you go.

[Riverratpete]

Good info, bet alot of people didn't know this about Pawn shops.

[tashit]

I would think hsolist is another good place for thieves to sell stolen items.

[FOOT]

There is now a service in the Rochester area where a company will come in to your home and inventory all of your personal items. Such as guns, depth finders, tools, pictures, computer, stereo, TV, decrative decoys, boats, rods/reels, etc. etc. etc.

They will present you with a 3 ring binder full of your pictures and inventory plus a CD or DVD with all information and pictures.

In addition, they will "data dot" each item with a special code. Then if the item is stolen and the police find it is say Chicago, they can return the item to its owner. Each Data Dot is about the size of a pen point and is registered and kept in a computer data base that is available to all law enforcement agencies in the US.

The cost is relatively inexpensive for about $300 for a 3000 square foot home.

I can't remember the name of the company but I'll find out and post it later.

[Random guy]

Good point. The officails involved with my stuff said that by time I relized it was gone the stuff was out of state heading to a fence that deals with that type of merchandise. My custom built rods all had "Custom Built for Jonny P" on the shafts. Tough to sell that localy.

[Tyler Holm]

Foot,

I'd like the name of that company in Rochester.

Thanks

[fishin789]

When someone stole my fishing rods and tackle box out of my van,I'm pretty sure that I saw at least the reels on hsolist.Being new to hsolist I didn't know I could look at a sellers past auctions.One month I saw a reel just like the one I lost and a couple weeks later I see the other reel being sold by the same person.It didn't all click till I figured out hsolist better. by then I didn't remember the sellers name.I'm pretty sure they were mine cause what are the odds of seeing the exact same reels being sold by the same seller?I've been watching these reels for quite some time now and have not seen that happen since.I'm guessing if I would have known I could look at past auctions I would have seen my tackle box and rods too.So if you think they might show up on hsolist. do a search for your items and then save them to favorites and have hsolist notify you on new additions to that item.maybe you will get lucky.

[Aquaman01]

Thanks for the info, foot. I'd like to know about that service, too. I don't have a lot of 'valuables', but the few I do have I wanna keep.

[Scupper]

Yes indeed fella's, get your digital cameras fired up and take pictures of everything you own, everything!

Save to a disc and make copies to store in a safe place.

We got hit this spring and I lost 30 plus years of tools. Service door on the garage was locked and dead bolted. Outdoor security light on and indoor light on.

Entry was gained thru service door.

These crooks were very selective as they did not take any of our fishing gear nor either of the 4-wheelers. I feel very fortunate that only the tools were targeted although they totaled just short of $10K. When contacting the authority's be persistant as to get an officer to witness the crime scene. Insurance companys gonna want pictures, receipts, owners manuals, when and where purchased, charge card or check. Charge card and checks can be traced to purchase.

Now get your documents and pictures in order unless you know that it will never happen to you.

It will make your claim process much easier to deal with while you continue to fight off the effects of being victomized.

No scorn or flame here but the explanation to the way pawn shops are operated made me smile.

[Valv]

I don't want to start a discussion, blame somebody for no reason , or begin to fight, but if Pawn Shops are required to report all purchases to Police, there has been a reason and still there is. Maybe nowadays things have changed, but I am sure there has been many issues in the past.

I buy parts from people and I am not required to log it for nobody, just my bookkeeping requires it.

So I still suggest to check with the shops, it doesn't hurt a thing.

[FOOT]

The name is "NorthStar Home Inventory" (507) 254-5982.

The company is bonded and is joining the Chamber of Commerce

so it's a legit company.

I plan on having my home inventoried. I know it's something I could do with a video camera or even a poloroid but the Data Dotting peaked my interest.

[Hillbiehle]

I am an independent insurance agent, please keep in mind that not only taking pictures is valuable, but keep your insurance agent in the loop. Should it be scheduled--- is it stored elsewhere--- replacement cost versus actual cash value---how is it stored--- permantly installed, etc.... Photos and an inventory are a great step, but if it is not insured properly, it can be useless.

[Aquaman01]

Thanks, foot.

Val, maybe what I was thinking didn't make it to what I was typing...that happens sometimes (hold on...sip of my wife's mega-coffee...hmmm...brain-waves coalescing from scattered vapors...)

Checking with most pawn shops (as has been advised to victims here in the past) is a waste of time for two reasons;

1-The shop will most likely act in the blanket interests of their legitimate clients' privacy. Our job is to give people money on a short-term loan in exchange for their collateral; jewelry, sports equipment, tools, electronics, etc. If the loans go bad - that's how we end up with a sales floor. The pawn process can be sensitive for people who are having a hard time of it financially. The last thing we're gonna do is start calling customers and accusing them of theft. That is the police dept's job - when the investigation points that way.

2-Proper channels already exist for following up on a crime. A victim's time is better served following up with the police, than it is with a merchant.

Sure, there was a time when the 'hawk shop' was a place to dump ill-gotten goods. It was the pawn industry that began reporting and prosecuting. A guy who gets money from a pawn shop for a stolen item is stealing from the pawn shop, too. Sooner or later Starsky and Hutch will show up and take the item back to it's rightful owner and then the shop is out their money; nobody is gonna pay back that loan. Pawn shops WANT the bad guys caught and burned. That's the job of law enforcement. Our job is to provide a way for folks to get money on short notice, and save a BUNCH of money on 2nd hand goods.

Speaking of which, Today is the day I buy a tray of crankbaits worth about $150 for $45 bucks, and pick up a couple of rare cartoons for the kids.

Lights are also a good theft deterrant. Scuzzy things like to creep around in the dark.

[metrojoe]

Aquaman01,

What's with that avatar?

I have to say it kind of freaks me out.

[mtreno]

about 9 years ago (when i was still pretty sure the world moved around me) i had one of those car systems that you could here downtown from bloomington. well one would be an understatement because that stuff gets stolen all the time. so after the second time and the second police report i took the cops advice and when i bought all my replacement speakers i wrote all the serial numbers down in a file and kept them next to my tax returns (god it was nice when that was considered an important document). anyway about six weeks later the whole system was stolen again. filed a police report including all serial numbers and was still told that i would most likely never see my stuff again...... after about two months of checking around guess what.... found my subwoofers in a pawn shop. i was sure they were mine because they were still in the custom box that i had made myself. the owner of this shop refused to let me take the speakers out to check the numbers on them...... i called the cops...... the next day i went back to the shop and met the officer who had taken the report there. he helped me remove the speakers from the box to check the numbers. i was right they were mine. i my underswtanding was charges were filed on the shop owner for not keeping proper records and for trying to prevent me from checking on goods. not every shop goes by the letter of the law..... no beef here just wanted to share my story.

[FOOT]

Hill, you are absolutely correct. Items needs to be insured and people need to talk to their ins. agent to make sure they are insured.

Case in point. Is a $450 depth finder and/or trolling motor connected to a boat insured. Some are Some aren't. In talking to a friend he found out his were not so he had an attachment put on his policy for $30 a yar to cover them.

[Aquaman01]

I wanted an Aquaman image, and that was the only thing I could find online that was the right pixels and not too hokey. DC comics has gotten really strict about policing up th eweb for unauthorized image galleries of their characters. C'mon - after this many years in popular culture aren't these superheroes more mythos than product?

My wife wants to photoshop my face onto the image and then re-host it on a different url. That might be even freakier!?!

[Sutty]

I think you need to do a little checking on your own as well. My dad had his truck stolen in duluth an old 80 chevy 1/2 ton that he just had liability coverage on. It turned up later abandoned in a no parking zone so he was called to move it (yep they didn't figure out it was stolen) when he reported to him it was stolen the response was well good thing you got it back no harm no foul.... problem was the people that stole it took it out muddin and beat the bleap out of it and since he didn't have full coverage he had no insurance on the damage. The part that chaps me is the police department didn't even inspect the truck for prints or anything.

So I say if you have the time do a little checking on your own.

PS Can I get some of that coffee?

[Aquaman01]

Sutty - The availability of my wife's coffee is restricted; it's okay for us to have some for personal use, but not to distribute to someone without a "medical use" permit.