Pros
Pawn America does a great job of hiring people. Any employee that manages to stick around always turns out to be a great person. You also get to see a variety of products and are constantly engaged by something new. There is a full benefits package and vacation time isn't so bad. There is an employee discount but it is now 10% instead of 20%. If you like making judgement calls and playing detective then this job is somewhat fun. Some customers are a lot of fun. Working for this company helped me grow as an individual and build stronger work ethic as well as gain perspective.
Cons
Like any company there are cons. The company has been suffering from a shrinkage problem and confiscated products which is resulting in many knee-jerk policies that remove employee perks. The employee discount has been reduced and employees are monitored very closely monitored which results in a more oppressive atmosphere. Pawn brokers are written up if they do not make bonus and bonus requirements are unrealistic as they rely on factors that are out of the control of the employee. Brokers are also encouraged to rewrite other employees' pawn accounts under their own names to help their own bonus. Pawn America follows a very slow time table to accomplish anything from within. The operating systems used for pawning crash regularly resulting in angry customers and a lot of catch-up work. Pawn America customers are from all walks of life, sometimes frustrated or desperate, and the industry involves a great deal of prejudice toward them. Brokers are required to sell a very bad debit card that has no incentive for the employee or the customer. There is no encouragement from upper management which leaves store managers feeling desperate or inadequate, and in turn, causes them to treat store level associates similarly. There has been very high Head Coach turnover rate at my store. Nobody in their right mind would sign up for a collateral loan at 20%. The business is based on the desperation of customers. Work-life balance is sometimes bad for brokers- nights can be late, shifts can be over 12 hours long, and brokers may be scheduled for up to 10 days in a row.
