https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-18/heres-what-people-pawn-across-america
Anyone can show up to a pawn shop with something valuable and walk out the door with cash. Pawn shops don’t check credit scores since the loans are collateralized, they keep long hours, and are convenient source of cash for 30 million Americans every year.
In the 19th century, Americans found their lender of last resort by looking for the industry’s “barbershop pole”: 3 dangling golden spheres. Like the rest of retail, that’s changing fast. Widespread smartphone adoption has given working-class Americans access to high speed internet. This sudden digitization lets us answer a question that’s baffled historians and stymied regulators: when Americans need cash, what do they actually pawn?
Anyone can show up to a pawn shop with something valuable and walk out the door with cash. Pawn shops don’t check credit scores since the loans are collateralized, they keep long hours, and are convenient source of cash for 30 million Americans every year.
In the 19th century, Americans found their lender of last resort by looking for the industry’s “barbershop pole”: 3 dangling golden spheres. Like the rest of retail, that’s changing fast. Widespread smartphone adoption has given working-class Americans access to high speed internet. This sudden digitization lets us answer a question that’s baffled historians and stymied regulators: when Americans need cash, what do they actually pawn?