Such a Glum Coin Shop...

Well Today was sort of a glum day. My brother and I went up to a coin shop in Downingtown, about thirty minutes from our house. We were hoping we could fill a few holes in our sets, finish my Barr Note set, and pick up any other coin that might have interested us.

When we got there, it was the total opposite of what I was expecting.

We walked in, three men inside, Euro Cup on the television in the background, but not one decided to greet us. However, they did manage did give us a nice glare. I know that they could have been busy with something else, but one tubby lad was sitting at his computer, the other staring at the TV, and the last man smoking a cigarette.

So my brother and I looked through some of their display cases, shelves filled with E-Zest Coin Cleaner and other coin-cleaning chemicals, and various coin holders. They had some nice things, but nobody bothered to notice we were there. I think just a little, "Hey guys can I help you with anything?" would have been nice.

So I ask, "Hi, could i look at those silver certificates there?"(They were all in a pile; no organization whatsoever). One man pulls ONE silver certificate out, 1957, an O.K. note but overpriced for me. It was twenty dollars. I didn't bother to look at the others because by that time I knew they didn't want to associate themselves with us.

Then my brother asks if he could look through the barber dime tray. Nobody answers. One man just gives him a stare, like, "What? I don't have to deal with these kids with no money."

I do not know what was with them. All the other coin shops I have gone to, the owners ask if they could help with anything, they would bring books of coins out, and would do other actions that would make my trip worthwhile.

These guys were in it for the money. They see two 15 year old boys, and think "Oh they aren't going to buy any of our gold or silver,"
They should have given a little more respect to us, but you just have to stay away from businesses like that.

 

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I'll tell you that there are dealers that look at young collectors like they are punks bent on ripping them off. OTOH you can find dealers that will let you come in and spend an afternoon in their shop looking through stuff, even if you only spend a small amount. I like to think of YN's as potential future customers for big buck stuff.

 

I hear ya man. I completely stopped going to the coin shop that's about 20 mins away. The guy has always been a jerk and will always be one. I know I am young, but I have gone there for about 9 years now and still nothing. There's another store buy my aunt's house, but I haven't tried it yet. However, when I go to Chicago Coin Co. by my grandma's house, the guys is always nice, especially when my dad comes with (but that's normal with dealers).

 

That's a shame, Greg. Poor service is always a disappointment regardless of the type of business. But for a couple of young numismatists such as your brother and yourself, all that I can say is, "Wow - what a shame."

I was fortunate, when I was your age (well, a little younger), to have not one, but two excellent coin dealers near my home. Both were owned by older (one was REALLY old) gentlemen. Both seemed very much dedicated to helping young collectors such as my best friend and myself. Times were different then (30+ years ago).

Keep looking - I'm sure that you can find someone that will treat you well. My guess is that your three bozo's won't be around long anyway.

Best of luck!

 

P.S.: I like your dog!

 

Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it.

I just didn't see the willingness to help others in the men that worked there. I really wanted to schlep out of there as fastly as possible. We only picked up coin holders and that was all. It definitely is a shame when people do not try and reach out to others.
But when I did strike up conversations with other coin shop owners, it is amazing how you can learn so much from a common chat, and that is all what counts. Passion is so important

 

The youth is the future of the coin collecting hobby, and this is bad business. I hate to hear this happened.

 

Eh? Real men watch WRC or LeMans!!

 

That is exactly what my dealer says - treat him nice now and they will be with you in the future, buying the bigger ticket items.

 

Isn't fast schlepping an oxymoron? :hammer:

But $20 for a silver cert? Four bucks on ebay! And you still gave him your business!! D'oh!

 

My Grandfather is Jewish, so he teaches me a few yiddish words.
Schlepp to is just move, carry out, or transport.

ex. "I had to schlepp that shtik drek to the Cheder every single day!"
Shtik Drek- Great Mess
Cheder- a Place where Hebrew is Practiced

 

I ran into this a lot at a young age. It taught me to be very direct but polite at the same time. Many dealers have so much behind the counter that they don't have a clue what the young collector is looking for. I learned to just ask. Something like.
"I'm looking for some Lincoln cents to fill some holes in my set. Do you have some I can look at?" or "May I see your Washington quarters? I'm looking to fill some holes in my set." Most dealers will take a question like that and run with it.

 

There is another possibility that I've thought about for some time. A few coin shops are run so badly that I suspect they may be organized crime fronts that are established to launder drug money. So the average customer isn't important to the operation. Near me, this has been found to be true of a few restaurants and motels, and a coin dealership would be a natural for this sort of operation.

 

Haha! Well I don't think this shop was that unfriendly. It was more the feeling of being unwelcome, rather than an establishment totally ignoring me because I do not have the money for their very nice gold and silver.

 

VERY good point and a good way to go about it.

Behind the counter is a different world Greg. A lot of what I do at the shop is "run interference". It's not that the owner doesn't like YNs. We have a 14 year old "intern".

What it boils down to is if he's working on a $3000 deal and someone walks in for a state quarter where is he going to focus?
I'll sell the quarter while he takes care of the serious business. It's not just YNs either.

I worked retail for a long time before this. I tend to greet customers more than anyone at the shop. If I ask them "is there anything in particular you're looking for?" and they answer "no just browsing" should I shadow them? This happens every day.

If I spend an hour to sell $3 worth of coins when I could have been tearing into a set the boss just bought my time and HIS money is better spent tearing the collection apart.

THEN when someone comies in looking for a 32-D Washington quarter we know exactly where it is. A five minute deal puts a few hundred n the till.

Coin shops are businesses after all. Those are the facts.

NOW as for the experience you had where no one even had the courtesy to greet you and things were overpriced. I'd simply avoid a place like that period.

They prejudged without talking to you. Their loss.

clembo

 

I can think of some other Yiddish words that are more appropriate in describing your coin dealers in that establishment, schmuk is only the nicest of them.

 

Ooohh Yeah. For some reason my Grandfather gets naches (joy) over the fact that he's teaching his grandchildren some, let's just say, not so nice words about other people.:mouth:

 

Clembo, thanks for putting it into a different perspective. From a First Hand behind-the-counter worker, I see where you are coming from.
But it was different at this shop, because one was watching television, while the other was sitting behind his computer. i can definitely understand your perspective Clembo, but just in this situation it didn't seem like they were busy with anything else.
It was the end of the day, about 3:30, and they close at 4, so maybe they had a long day

 

Treat the YN's with respect, WOW, it's a shame most folks don't understand that

 

That is the nice thing about Yiddish, the derogatory words are so descriptive, even if you are not Jewish, or speak Yiddish. They stand out and say so much with so little. Think of these dealers as p*tz