Every coin shop has one

Every coin shop has one (We are special, we have two!). I will call him Fred. Fred is the kind of person that comes in and will spend 2 hours, monopolize your time, spend $5 and whine about how much everything costs. Fred is the kind of person that will go through the token box (10 for a dollar) and want a better deal if he buys 20. He is also the kind of person that if he found a rare $1000 world coin marked $2, he would whine and try to get it for a dollar. He is just that kind of person.
Fred also complains about price, always says he can get it for a lot less on eBay. Fred professes to be an expert on coins, while the reality is he knows VERY little. Fred also thinks he can grade coins and PCGS is wrong most of the time. So Fred comes in yesterday with a slabbed $5 Indian with the grade covered. Wants my opinion of the grade. So I play along. He has the slab covered completely except for the coin, so you cannot really tell whose slab it is in. Now I will be the first to admit, that grading gold Indians is not my strongest suite. So I look at the coin. A bit of flatness on the breast, same on the headband, plus broken luster at the same spots. So I tell him this and say I would buy it as a nice AU coin. He smirks, tells me how wrong I am, and then pulls off the paper to show MS65, in an ANC slab. He got it on eBay for "only 62 money!" I finally said, "Fred, it is NOT a 65 coin! At best it's a nice AU58, so you way over paid"
He still thinks:
1. He got a screaming deal.
2. He's an expert on grading.
3. Coin dealers are not allowed to make any profit.
4. Coin dealers are stupid.
5. eBay is the best place to get deals.
6. He should be able to buy silver at yesterdays spot (if it was lower).
7. PCGS has NEVER once graded one of his coins properly.
8. All grading services are equal.
9. it's OK to spend hours in your shop taking up your time, not allowing you to work or help others.
And the biggie
10. If he opened a coin shop, he would put us out of business.
Fred also complains about price, always says he can get it for a lot less on eBay. Fred professes to be an expert on coins, while the reality is he knows VERY little. Fred also thinks he can grade coins and PCGS is wrong most of the time. So Fred comes in yesterday with a slabbed $5 Indian with the grade covered. Wants my opinion of the grade. So I play along. He has the slab covered completely except for the coin, so you cannot really tell whose slab it is in. Now I will be the first to admit, that grading gold Indians is not my strongest suite. So I look at the coin. A bit of flatness on the breast, same on the headband, plus broken luster at the same spots. So I tell him this and say I would buy it as a nice AU coin. He smirks, tells me how wrong I am, and then pulls off the paper to show MS65, in an ANC slab. He got it on eBay for "only 62 money!" I finally said, "Fred, it is NOT a 65 coin! At best it's a nice AU58, so you way over paid"
He still thinks:
1. He got a screaming deal.
2. He's an expert on grading.
3. Coin dealers are not allowed to make any profit.
4. Coin dealers are stupid.
5. eBay is the best place to get deals.
6. He should be able to buy silver at yesterdays spot (if it was lower).
7. PCGS has NEVER once graded one of his coins properly.
8. All grading services are equal.
9. it's OK to spend hours in your shop taking up your time, not allowing you to work or help others.
And the biggie
10. If he opened a coin shop, he would put us out of business.
0
Comments
3 "DAMMIT BOYS"
4 "YOU SUCKS"
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<< <i>I would start stocking ANC slabbed coins for him to buy >>
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
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<< <i>I would start stocking ANC slabbed coins for him to buy >>
Yup, I would have a special Fred case/box/whatever. Buy all the 3rd world MS65's at AU prices and sell to Fred for MS62 prices - one way to make a positive out of a negative.
I've seen the same thing sort of. Due to lack of an actual coin shop, as close as I get is antique stores. One store is a converted pole bar, with the back 1/8 of the shop converted into a little coffee shop/diner type setting. They get a couple antique tour busses a day, so they set it up for those done shopping to have a coffee or snack. The owners have a few locals that come and sit there all day though and complain about antique prices and how they can get the things cheaper at Big Lots
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are the bane of all bussinesses.
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They also say things like: "You collect that series???," "You'll never find that coin," moan, complain, etc.
I don't go to coin shops anymore....
A typical looking "Fred"
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
<< <i>Have you ever met "Stinky Joe" ??? >>
OMG!!! Just hope he never comes to your table on a hot day at a show!!!
<< <i>In general, unfourtunately, more negative stuff can be said about the coin shop than "Fred". >>
True. I've seen Fred's and Stinky Joe's on both sides of the counter.
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"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
A dealer had a stack of Morgans in 2x's and there was a placard that said Common Date BU Morgan's $xx.00. This younger guy, probably early 20's walks up and picks up the stack and hands the dealer $xx.00. The dealer politely tells the guy that they're $xx.00 each, per the sign. This younger guy starts going off saying, No...it says this..... I could tell the younger guy didn't have a great concept of English grammar so I proceeded to explain to him that the sign did indeed say $xx.00 each. He then pushes me back and tells me to get the F away from him "cuz this doesn't concern you!" At this point I put on my postal workers hat (no offense to the sane postal workers) and said quite a few not so nice things. During the whole entire tirade the dealer was asking for his coins back and the guy refused to turn them over. Finally security shows up and only upon threats of taking him down did he give up the coins. They then escorted him out and told him to stay out.
Security was some off duty HPD guys, and I had sincerely hoped they would have arrested him. I only lived in Houston for three years but it was undeniably the most bizarre thing I had seen at a coin show. (Except for the well known Dr. who walked out of the restrooms back on the floor with toilet paper stuck to his shoe...that was funny.)
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(My imitation of a dismiss everything type)
Kimchee
-Mark Twain
Not that I'm a big spender (bought $7.xx worth of coins that day) but man.....the guy walked out with less than $0.50 in coins after his moaning session.
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You should give him the pepsi challenge with a few PCGS slabs (covered-up of course) and see how he does? If yiou show him an AU55 coin and he says it's MS64, offer it to him for MS60 money since PCGS doesn't know how the heck to grade anyway. Fred should be happy with the great deal you just offered him. If you embarass him a few times in this way, I'll bet his visit will start dropping off.
Oh, and if any of you haven't met the OP, he's about as nice and even-tempered a guy as you'll ever meet (coins or not).
Just kind of builds up 'til you have to vent it, huh, Wes?
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On long summer days, my Uncle used to join the other men on the wooden bench outside "Little Erv's" place, spit, smoke Lucky Strikes and talk about the Good'ole Days. I guess they were all Fred's, I don't think Erv ever sold any of those guys one coin, but they did buy his other wares. Most of the time Erv was sitting outside with them and the only thing keeping the coin case busy was a lone ceiling fan that silently rotating the strong smell of tobacco.
I would stare into the case for what seemed like hours. Trays of strange looking silver and gold coins...big copper cents thinking..."how did people carry around such big money back then?"
Things sure were different back then, people were happy to make ends meet and if there was any extra at the end of the month it was a time to celebrate.
I guess we all start out like Freds, some just never step out of the form and progress.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
I am pretty fortunate in that the coin shops within an hour or so of me all have people in them who are pretty reasonable. They aren't all fabulous, but the none of the guys are jerks. I've never been there when a "Fred" showed up, and I try not to be one myself. I do sometimes take up a person's time looking for just the right coin -- sell me a single and I want to look at everything in your roll to get the best one -- but I try to pay what it is worth, too.
This hobby definitely attracts some people without a great deal of social grace, though.
Parker
Some poeple just don't understand
<< <i>Every shop and every business, in every industry, seems to be cursed with a "Fred" or two. >>
Ain't that the truth !!!!
I'm my local coin shop's Fred!
<< <i>This is a very entertaining thread.
Yes...one of the most entertaining posts I've seen in a long time. You made my day!!
<< <i>I let him count out a hundred of them on the counter then said "no thanks" and left. >>
<< <i>
<< <i>Have you ever met "Stinky Joe" ??? >>
OMG!!! Just hope he never comes to your table on a hot day at a show!!! >>
edit to add:
He's even easier to ignore.
That's what I did. It's also why I added a pawn license so I could wholesale ALL coins I didn't want to keep.