Communities Considering Bans On 'Cash For Gold' Shops

I would agree that traveling 'roadshows' that stop in a town for a few days, heavily advertising that they buy coins. precious metals, jewelry, and other collectables should perhaps be banned. They are the worst of the worst, bouncing checks and blatantly deceiving people since they will be long out of town when consumers find out that they have been cheated and have little legal recourse.

Yeah I highly doubt their scales are calibrated any...

Well said.

If these "activists" had their way there would be no business anywhere. No one forces people to sell their stuff at any of these places, but it's their item to do with as they please. No matter what people may think these places do to their community, they still pay taxes, employee people, pay insurances and give the people a place to legally get money. I would rather have that than people robbing people for a few bucks.

If people really want to go after crooked business they should attack gamestop. That place buys used games for $10 bucks or less and resell them at $5 less than new prices. They have robbed more people than all the gold and silver places combined yet towns give them tax breaks to set up shop. It's all marketing.

Thanks for the comments everyone! This is a nuanced topic since I'm sure nobody here likes some of the practices that some cash for gold shops operate under.

In my mind it is one thing for businesses proven to have to have illegal practices to be prosecuted so that they can no longer harm the public. It is totally another to assume beforehand that certain business types are guilty of being a blight on the community before they even complete their first transaction. Everyone knows that you are not getting a good deal borrowing money from a payday lender or selling your gold and silver to a pawn shop but some people need quick cash now and that flexibility comes with a cost.

Businesses playing games with their scales and other deceptive business practices need to be prosecuted. Draconian zoning regulations that target the good and the bad equally is no substitute for not prosecuting businesses that misrepresent their wares or engage in deceptive business practices.

I live in a small Minnesota town that has at least one church on every block. All of them are having Lutefisk suppers during these weeks leading up to Christmas.

I've seriously considered starting a campaign against them being able to cook Lutefisk within the town proper. If you've never smelled that stuff cooking, consider yourself blessed.

Me doing that makes about as much sense as some of the ordinances put in place already. I don't even want to start on 'frac sand mining'. But as to the gold n' silver shops they are no different than any business that buys used items, to include vehicles, antiques, collectibles, jewelry, rugs, or what have you. It also really doesn't matter what they use for a scale. They could toss it in the air and decide the weight based on how long it takes to drop back in their hand. They offer you X dollars for X item. Take it or leave it.

If they find the shops are doing something illegal by all means shut them down and/or prosecute them. Just banning them because they don't like them however is not a road we want to start traveling down. While I firmly believe private developers should be able to decide who they lease to I couldn't disagree more with a city banning legal business just because they don't like it. If they do this and deem it a success it won't be long until they start targeting other things. I'm not buying their logic at all either. I seriously doubt anyone has ever heard a business say well I would have started a business here but there's a cash for gold place near by so I am going somewhere else.

The ban makes even less since when the majority of those cash for gold places are temporary anyway. We all saw them popping up on every corner with surging metal prices, now that prices have been in a decline for years most of those places are gone.

I'm of the opinion that those who buy/sell physical goods, as long as their is no fraud in their practices should be able to setup shop as they please. Whether it's new retail or second hand thrift or collectables, it's all the same game... source if for less than you sell it. Anyone here who has ever flipped a coin to fund something of greater value understands this. This is the fundamentals of really basic economics. Banning "They offer you X dollars for X item. Take it or leave it," when it comes to physical property is a slope we just should not go down as a country. I put Pawn Shops into this category because much of what they deal in is physical stuff, doesn't matter if its a gold coin or an ugly action figure.

However, regulating those who setup shops selling financial contracts that put disadvantaged people into long term disadvantaged situations needs to be regulated. There are already lots of laws dealing with contracts that prohibit certain types of scenarios regardless of what the contract says. I am defiantly in regulating these contracts. All sorts of things changed regarding mortgage practices after the recent recession for the protection of everyone.

As for where shops can be setup, I know zoning laws like to keep certain types of operations in certain places. But if a shop can afford to operate in a certain place, then by all means they have the right to try. Living here in SW Florida, I am reminded of 5th Avenue S in Naples. City Council has gone out of its way to keep corporate retail (except for a couple locally founded chains) out in favor of boutiques, banking / real estate services, art, and jewelry, a coin shop and a couple antique shops. Makes for a high end experience for sure.