I love American Pickers. Love it.
If you’re a fan of this site and you haven’t seen the show, I suggest you go see it now. I would even go as far to say that you might want to consider downloading the episodes off of iTunes (at 1.99 a piece!). This show is the epitomie of Manly Vintage. Every week two friends, Mike and Frank hit the road in their van and search for amazing old crap to buy and resell. Literally every time I see this show, I want to get in a truck and drive around America and see what cool shit I can find. Morgan saw it for the first time the other night at my house. We watched two episodes. He immediately said, “We need to make a road trip. Let’s start right now.” Ahh man, I’m jealous of those two.
However, it seems like this show is either loved, or hated. There are lots of people who are claiming that the pickers are ripping off the elderly, swindling them out of their precious “things”. Take for example, the situation with Leland:
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A bunch of viewers were up in arms about ripping off a veteran. I mean a $5,000 saddle for $75! The only problem is that there has been a lot of overpricing in terms of their appraisals. The saddle that was appraised at $5,000 only sold for $175 on ebay. And its not like the old guy was going to be able to post it on ebay.
Either way, I honestly don’t see what they’re doing as ripping someone off. I don’t naturally assume that the elderly are idiots, that they need the young to help them. They’re engaging in a free exchange for crap that they probably don’t really need for cash that as an older person on a fixed income, they might actually need.
Confession: I watched the show once. Can’t do it again. Makes me yearn to rove about in a 1950′s Airstream and scout out cool stuff. When I watch it, I almost cry. Yearning sucketh.
Greg and I were watching American Pickers AS I opened this post. We’re obsessed too.