Loyalty Pawn's Three Balls Chronicle Volume 1 Issue 4

THREE BALLS CHRONICLE

VOLUME 1 / ISSUE 4

June 2018

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from the President Pawn Shop Culture Pt. 2

Article

Crossword Puzzle

Letter from the General Manager

Upcoming Sales

Upcoming Birthdays and Anniversaries

Top Performers in May

Loyalty Pawn’s Core Goals, Values and Visions

Employee Services Corner

Guess What I Am? Answers

Team Loyalty!!

We would like to thank you so very much for all of the hard work that all of you have put in and all of that hard work that you have put in has paid off because we have won Best Pawn and Loan in 2018 on the Sacramento A-List! A lot of our customers have voted and have left many amazing comments that tell us how we have really helped them at have heard nothing but great comments about our customer service. So we want to thank all of team loyalty for all of your hard work and dedication to our team!

A Few Words from the President

Another great month for Loyalty Pawn!!

El Camino exterior is painted, Broadway Exterior is painted, lots of work being completed at Roseville in the exterior and interior of our new Loyalty Luxury brand. Show case and some other display cabinets were picked up and delivered in the middle of May, A huge Thank You to Wayne, Javier and Dylan for making that happen all undamaged. Exterior signs ARE coming this month!!

Huge shout out to Justin Martinez to be the first Loyalty Pawn team member to complete his GIA courses and is now an Applied Jewelry Professional. That means he has passed the Colored Stone Essentials course, Jewelry Essentials course and the Diamond Essential course. My hope is to start opening up the GIA training to all staff by the end of the year. Thank You Justin!!

All functions of Loyalty Pawn are running great. Loan Balance is at a record number, in store sales are performing better than previous years and months, our great team managers are pushing our layaways and other company add on products, staying on top of our aged inventory, we are still pushing our warranty products and our protection plans, eBay is really pumping also (Thank You Ryan and Justin), and on and on. I am so happy and just want to let all of Team Loyalty know that our leadership team is working extremely hard to "Develop, Recruit and Inspire" our entire team while building and maintaining our positive company culture. We have started having video conference calls twice a week and talk about weekly goals and our ability to attain them and if not, how we can all help each other and assist in reaching our goals. Thank You to the Loyalty Leaders that are making this business and each of your teams work so great together, I would also like to Thank You for all of the great open communication that we are having. So,you all know what the managers are doing even when they are home, we have 2 weekly video calls, book club meetings along with reading the featured book, monthly strategic meetings, bi-monthly mentor leadership calls, Gia training, I am sure that I have left some things out but all of that AND run their perspective location. Keep up the excellent work and I cannot Thank You all enough. I wanted to high light the managers in this presidents letter so we all can see how much they do and to make sure they work does not go unnoticed.

Greatfully,

Stan Lukowicz

Pawn Shop Culture

As no economy or money-based society can prosper without any credit, pawn broking has a long history in the Eastern and Western cultures. This article will focus on the Western history of pawn shop culture.

The Western pawn culture dates back to the Greek and Roman times. Both Greece and Rome were familiar with the operation of pawning; actually, it is from the Roman jurisprudence that most of the contemporary law on the subject is derived. The chief difference between Roman and English law is that under Roman law certain things, such as apparel, furniture, and tools of trade, could not be pledged, whereas there is no such restriction in English legislation. The emperor Augustus converted the surplus from the confiscated property of criminals into a fund from which sums of money were lent, without interest, to those who could pledge valuables equal to double the amount borrowed.

A Christian prohibition on profit from money ‘without working’ made banking sinful. Though Pope Leo the Great forbade charging interest on loans by canon law, it was not forbidden to take collateral on loans. Pawn shops operated on the basis of a contract that fixed in advance the ‘fine’ for not respecting the nominal term of the ‘interest free’ loan, or alternatively, may structure a sale-repurchase by the ‘borrower’ where the interest is implicit in the repurchase price. Similar conventions exist in modern Islamic banking.

Christianity and Judaism banned usury, but allowed it towards heretics. Thus Christians could lend to Jews and vice versa. The only requirement for a young man who desired a future in the financial world of the Middle Ages was that he needed to be able to read and write. The methods used for bookkeeping were carefully kept within families and slowly spread along trade routes. This knowledge was available to Jesuits and Jews, who consequently played a major role in European finance. Generally the Jesuits took the role of go-between with heads of state, while the Jews manned the low-end pawnshops.

It comes as no surprise that the pawn shops of Rome were the most prosperous of all, especially in the 15th century under Popes Pius IV and Sixtus V.

The Medici families in Italy along with the Lombard’s in England were moneylenders in Europe. Legend has it that one of the Medici’s

in the employ of Emperor Charles the Great fought a giant and slew him with three sacks of rocks. The three balls or globes later became part of their family crest, and ultimately, the sign of pawn broking.

This Italian ‘Lombard’ pawn shop method became famous and had a name for reliability and honesty.

In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain signed a decree expelling all Jews who refused to be converted to Christianity. A considerable number moved into Portugal. Many members of the migrant Jewish community in Portugal proceeded to become wealthy in commercially successful Portuguese port cities. Being forced on the move, Jewish families remained mobile and quickly developed international family agencies for growing brokerage houses involved with shipping. Such family networks of mobile Jewish “lombard’s” migrated from port city to city with the Spanish Inquisition and created international networks.

In France the Lombard’s became synonymous with the Cahorsins. Most European cities still have a street named Lombard Street after the pawn shop that once housed there. In Dutch, the name for a pawn shop is still lommerd, and the same etymology persists in the names of various banks (unless named after some family). In Polish and Russian, a pawn shop is called simply lombard.

The near-monopoly position of the Jewish lombard’s in finance became less prominent as various Protestant factions after the Reformation became just as persecuted as the Jews. In the 18th century many bankers and shipping agents were Quakers. Though the pawnshops were no longer manned by Jews and/or Jesuits, they were more and more often called Lombard houses, and most major port cities still have a ‘Lombard Street’ or ‘Lombard Ally’ today. American examples are San Francisco, New Orleans, Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. The term ‘Lombard’ for pawnshop (or pawnshop owner) was in use well into the late 18th century, thus many of these streets were named with the establishment of shipping agents in those towns.

The religious restrictions made banking seem immoral and Lombard bankers were often considered to be undesirable company. These prejudices were the reason that banking families intermarried and kept to themselves, resulting in international dynasties of banking families. The story of Mary Poppins illustrates how banking was still considered immoral by some in the 20th century, though in the business world it was by that time a perfectly respectable profession

A Letter from the General Manager

Hello Everyone!

Good bye May!! I can’t believe that Loyalty pawn has already been in business for almost 6 months! Where has the time gone. Many great things to report. Loyalty Pawn has brought on new team members from the beginning of May and we are excited to watch them grow and embrace our Vision, Values and Goals.

As we ramp up for a hot summer, we will be very busy getting the new Loyalty Luxury store open and opening some store locations later hours. As we strive to build an elite work force, we are always looking for talented prospects! I any one you know somebody who might be a great addition to our growing team, please let them know that we are eager to entertain talented individuals who would like to work in a fast-paced fun environment!!

On a positive note, we are seeing an increase across the board in securing Layaways at each location. It’s awesome to know that we are capturing this as an opportunity to see our customer multiple times prior to the layaway getting picked up. By doing so, this allows us to maximize this opportunity. Currently, all stores are making strides in this growth and we look forward to more!

By now, some of you have seen the building color changes. Both El Camino and Broadway have the new exterior painted and we are working on Roseville exterior and interior now. In the very near future, the new signage will be finding its way to the stores. This is very exciting, and I hope all of you are looking forward to the many positive changes to come!

Wayne Silliman General Manager

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with EXCELLENCE!

Upcoming Sales

May Anniversaries

Wayne Silliman June 1, 1999 19 years

John Mark June 1, 2007 11 years

Ryan Hall June 3, 2011 7 years

David Palomarez June 15, 2011 7 years

Dylan Tinklenberg June 22, 2015 3 years

May Birthdays

Leslie Ochoa June 10th

Zabi Iqbal June 11th

We would also like to welcome our newest hires to our Loyalty Pawn Team; Erika E and Ryan A, working at location #5, West Sacramento, Rodolfo H and Huber V, working at location #2, Florin Mall Drive all as sales lending associates. We are very excited to welcome you guys to our LP team!

TOP PERFORMERS IN APRIL

Sales in Dollars

Productivity in Dollars

Physical Deals Done in # of Transactions

1st Mark Xiong (#2 Florin) Javier Becerra (#2 Florin) Jon Galupe (#1 El Camino)

2nd John Mark (#4 Broadway) Jon Galupe (#1 El Camino) Zabi Iqbal (#2 Florin)

3rd Jason Wagner (#2 Florin) Dylan Tinklenberg (#3 Roseville) Dave Palomares (#2 Florin)

4th Tony Perez (#3 Roseville) Marl Xiong (#2 Florin) Mark Xiong (#2 Florin)

5th Joseph Contreras (#1 El Camino) Dave Palomares (#2 Florin) Cody Lathe (#1 El Camino)

Loan/Buy/Layaway End of Month Balances

Loyalty Pawn’s

Goals, Values, and Visions

“The Leader in Local Lending”

Company Wide Goals

• To Offer Immediate Relief with a Short-Term Loan.

• To Develop, Recruit and Inspire an Elite Work Force, Driven by Loyal Business Practices.

• To Provide the Highest Standard of Quality, Commitment and Value to Every Customer in Our Loyalty Pawn Family!

Core Values

• Loyalty

• Dedication

• Creativity

Company Vision

• Loyal People Committed to Everyday Satisfaction

Loyalty Pawn Employee Services Corner

June Pearls of HR Wisdom.

Did you know that June birthdays claim two birthstones? Pearl and Alexandrite. Pearls have been wildly popular in jewelry for centuries because of their natural beauty. Alexandrite gemstones are extremely rare and desirable since they change color based on the lighting. Top-quality natural gems sell for $15,000. Over one carat, the prices range from $50,000 to $70,000 per carat. Pretty cool! Have you ever valuated a Pearl or an Alexandrite stone? Be on the lookout!

Employee Experience Survey-Participation 100%!!

I am pleased to announce that the recent Loyalty Pawn Employee Experience Survey Participation reached 100% company-wide! Congratulations Team Loyalty! A summary of the results will be provided under separate communication by Stan later in the month.

I can tell you that overall, the results of the employee survey offer Loyalty Pawn the opportunity to improve performance in areas that are important to you. I am pleased to see that employees place a high level of importance on teamwork and workplace safety and believe that Loyalty is performing well in these areas.

Also, of high importance to staff is delivering quality products, keeping skilled employees, job satisfaction and balancing work and life demands, to name a few. We are performing well in some of these areas and we need to work on others.

Thank you for participating in the employee survey. Your comments are invaluable and will be used as the basis for ongoing discussions between managers and staff over the coming year. Continuing to improve on our performance is important to the management team and will underpin the future success of Loyalty. We are all committed to improving the performance together with everyone’s high level of satisfaction in the workplace.

Stan will be making his announcement soon and will be rewarding each store location a team-incentive to be spent and enjoyed as a location collective. Thank you, again, for participating and for providing valuable insight and candid feedback.

Enjoy the month of June and be on the lookout for Pearls or Alexandrite stones from customers! And, remember, if you need HR, Payroll, Benefits, or Family support, Loyalty Pawn’s Employee Services is only a phone call, text message, or email away, 24/7/365. Here’s to your continued good health, peace and prosperity!

~Dmae

Guess What I Am? Answer Key

Broadway Location New Building Paint

El Camino Location New Building Paint

Roseville’s New Luxury Goods Department

Guess what I am?

CUSHION CUT DIAMOND

• I WAS REFERRED TOASAOLD MINE CUTAND HAVE BEENAROUND FOR 200 YEARS

• THE STANDARDS FOR THIS STONE CUT VARY MORE THAN MOST OTHER SHAPES

• MANY BUYERSAREATTRACTED TO THE ANTIQUE FEEL COMBINED WITH MODERN PERFOMANCE OFFERED BYTHIS CUT