LOL! Some of you people are really quite hilarious.
Apparently people roaming the countryside offering cash for other peoples belongings that are rotting away in the back yard is now a symbol of the downfall of Western civilization! LOL!
As for the other show on the history channel called "pawn stars" I like that one too. I find it very interesting when people bring in and what's worth a lot of money and what's worth almost no money. Plus you sometimes get a little mini history lesson in there.
Geez! You people will find just about anything to cry about and rally around and pronounce how it's the most evil thing in the history of the universe
AMEN to what you said lapis lazuli!!
I watch both American Pickers and Pawn Stars also. You are right. These families who live off the byways and in the country who have stuff sitting in their barns, sheds, attics,basements -they are probably Very thankful and appreciative that Mike and Frank came a long way to search through these items that have 30-40 years or more of dust on them. Plus if they work out a deal, the owner gets cash on the spot. If Mike and Frank did not come visit their places then the stuff in the buildings would just keep sitting there,keep collecting dust and rotting because these owners of the buildings where the American Pickers search would have no way to get all this stuff to town and probably could not afford to pay anyone else to come get it out of their way. Frank and Mike ask each person "How much do you want for this". "How much would you be willing to part with this item for". If the person selling to them says they want to keep their items because they don't think it is enough for what they thought it was worth, then Mike and Frank thank them and go on to next place.
If the person willing to part with their "treasures" quotes a price and the guys think it is too much, they will tell the owner it is and thank them and be on their way,or keep bartering & figuring out some other price if the owner of the items is willing. NO ONE is Making these people sell their belongings. Mike and Frank ALWAYS leave it up to the owners to decide whether they think what they are being offered is enough. I have seen them leave a place without buying anything because Mike and Frank could not either buy for the price the owners quoted to them, or the person had an emotional attachment to some of the items and changed their mind. So the American Pickers do not cheat anyone out of their money. If not for Mike and Frank, the stuff they look at would just keep sitting there and sitting there. Some of the owners of these sheds and barns,etc. are physically unabke to go through all their belongings and sort it out and have yard sales to sell their things. It would take months to go through some of those buildings and get out everything or anything that may be worth selling.
*Plus the people that the American Pickers go to see live so far out from town that no one would bother to go just for a yard sale.*
Cash on the spot for these items that goes back to early 1920's,1930's and so on,that is a Godsend for most of these ladies and gentlemen. *Who here thinks that these elderly people can go into their buildings,load up some antiques and go take it to the Antiques Roadshow for appraisal?
If you have watched the show, you know that most of the people willing to let Frank & Mike go through their stuff are retirees. They sound most happy to me to get that cash.This is called "Free Will".
