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Secondhand Goods ORDINANCE NO. 4214
Chris Pellack
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bobanncamp, gloriabetcherwardl, GartinForAmes, pforazem, nelson.ames, mg, amber.corrieri, schultes,
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05/12/2015 04:11 PM
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Madame Mayor, Councilpersons,
I'm writing you today because it has come to my attention that the above Ordinance is going before the
council for the third reading tonight. I have many concerns regarding the ordinance, as proposed.
I have been in the collectibles business for twenty-five years, between my town of birth, Chicago, and my
adopted home of Ames. I believe this Ordinance, again as proposed, would unduly hurt my business'
ability to procure merchandise for my shop.
To illustrate why, let me describe to you a typical purchase of secondhand collectibles in my shop:
First, I feel I should describe to you how comics are generally stored. Comic storage boxes come in two
sizes, Small and Large. A large Comic Box will generally hold three hundred comics.
On average, a collection purchased in my shop will consist of one to four long boxes, or between three
hundred to twelve hundred books. Many of those books will be of the two to five dollar price range, but,
just last year I purchased a collection containing several key Silver Age books,the least of which was a
$600 book.
To comply with the law, I cannot just say I bought two long boxes of random comics, especially for that to
be: A) worthwhile for law enforcement to compare with a stolen item report, and B)to cover my backside,
just in case officers come in and decide to confiscate two long boxes of comics because a theft of two long
boxes was reported. What if the seller had four boxes and I decided to purchase two.
So, to comply, I have to list each book, or run of books, separately, with photos of each book, or groups of
books. The time requirements alone would be massive, let alone the opportunity cost of my having to do it
vs. doing productive work in the shop,plus the salary of someone I'd have to hire to either watch the shop
or input the data.
The data itself may very well be an issue as well. I'm not sure how the database is set up, but the sheer
number of items may bog down the system.
In closing, I ask that you consider changing the ordinance to exempt collectible stores, set a minimum
retail amount of$100 to report to the website, or, until a reasonable amendment to the ordinance can be
worked up, proceed with asking those who must already keep records manually to switch to the online
version.
Thanks you for your time and I look forward to speaking with you at tonight's council meeting.
Chris Pellack
The Shield Comics & Games
Ames, IA
Phone: 515-296-4622
file:///C:/Users/diane.voss/AppData/Local/Temp/notesFFF692/—web6612.htm 5/12/2015