Pawn Shop Logic

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amp88

amp88

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Just read a piece in The Diary this morning about an Aberdonian who needed ninepence for his beer but only had sixpence on him. So, he went to the pawn shop and pawned his sixpence for fivepence then sold his ticket for fourpence, giving him ninepence in total.

What's the catch?
 
MdnIte
The ticket being?
Click to expand...
The piece if paper he'd use to get his sixpence back from the pawn shop.

As for the catch: None that I can see.

The guy that bought the ticket will be lose out - he's had to pay fourpence for the ticket, then he'll have to pay back the fivepence to the pawn shop to get sixpence out, thus he's spent ninepence to get sixpence.

It seems a win/win for the man who's wants the beer.

I fear I'm missing something though... :nervous:
 
If he 'pawned his sixpence for fivepence', then his ticket would only be worth one pence, therefore, who would buy a one pence ticket for four pence?
 
Dunno about the puzzle, but I wanna go to Aberdeen if its only 9p for a beer!
 
My guess is that the sixpence was an antique coin worth about 5 pounds, judging from my knowledge of pawnshop logic.
 
ferrari_chris
The piece if paper he'd use to get his sixpence back from the pawn shop.

As for the catch: None that I can see.

The guy that bought the ticket will be lose out - he's had to pay fourpence for the ticket, then he'll have to pay back the fivepence to the pawn shop to get sixpence out, thus he's spent ninepence to get sixpence.

It seems a win/win for the man who's wants the beer.

I fear I'm missing something though... :nervous:
Click to expand...

This is what I figured too, the first guy makes a profit and the second guy makes a loss. The pawn shop comes out even. Dunno if we're right though...

@TM: My understanding of the ticket is that it's "worth" sixpence when you give it and fivepence to the pawn shop owner (i.e. the person who exchanges the ticket ends up onepence in profit (on this transaction)).

@daan: Aye, but sadly 'tis a tale from another time.

@Duke: There's no wordplay about the money (antique coins or anything). You could change the units to dollars and it'd be the same idea.
 
Let's look at the flow of money to the interested parties here:

Pawn Shop:
Income: 6p from the drunk, 5p from whoever comes back with the ticket
Outflow: 5p to the drunk, 6p to whoever comes back with the ticket
Balance: Even
(6-5+5-6=0)
Balance - Starting Amount = 0


Drunk:
Income: 6p to start with, 5p from the Pawn Shop, 4p from the village idiot
Outflow: 6p to the Pawn Shop
Balance: +9p for booze
(6+5+4-6 = 9)
Balance - Starting Amount = +3p
So the drunk makes 3 in profit.

Village Idiot:
Income: 4p to start with, 6p from the Pawn Shop
Outflow: 5p to the Pawn Shop, 4p to the Drunk
Balance: (4+6-5-4)=1
Balance - Starting Amount = -3p

So the Village idiot loses 3p.

Make sense?
 
danoff
Let's look at the flow of money to the interested parties here:

Pawn Shop:
Income: 6p from the drunk, 5p from whoever comes back with the ticket
Outflow: 5p to the drunk, 6p to whoever comes back with the ticket
Balance: Even
(6-5+5-6=0)
Balance - Starting Amount = 0


Drunk:
Income: 6p to start with, 5p from the Pawn Shop, 4p from the village idiot
Outflow: 6p to the Pawn Shop
Balance: +9p for booze
(6+5+4-6 = 9)
Balance - Starting Amount = +3p
So the drunk makes 3 in profit.

Village Idiot:
Income: 4p to start with, 6p from the Pawn Shop
Outflow: 5p to the Pawn Shop, 4p to the Drunk
Balance: (4+6-5-4)=1
Balance - Starting Amount = -3p

So the Village idiot loses 3p.

Make sense?
Click to expand...

Yep, that'll be the answer then :cheers: (have one on me, it's only ninepence :p )
 
amp88
This is what I figured too, the first guy makes a profit and the second guy makes a loss. The pawn shop comes out even. Dunno if we're right though...

@TM: My understanding of the ticket is that it's "worth" sixpence when you give it and fivepence to the pawn shop owner (i.e. the person who exchanges the ticket ends up onepence in profit (on this transaction)).

@daan: Aye, but sadly 'tis a tale from another time.

@Duke: There's no wordplay about the money (antique coins or anything). You could change the units to dollars and it'd be the same idea.
Click to expand...

Just run that by me again?
 

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