State revamps hours, offers online catalogue system

In a rarely seen move, the Office of the Government Pawnshop is revamping its business to match customer lifestyles as competition from privately owned pawnshops and personal loan lenders intensifies.

“The changes include new operating hours, offering an online catalogue of forfeited pawn items and accepting brandname products,” said Mana Kliangthong, director of the office.

Privately owned pawnshop operators remain open during the lunch hour and close later in the evening than state-owned shops, he said, costing the government shops customers.

Mr Mana said the state agency is planning to stay open during lunch hours and is likely to lengthen its closing time in the future. The government pawnshops may delay the start of business hours to offset the increased hours.

“People usually visit during working hours, so these new hours should attract more customers”, said Mr Mana.

The online catalogue will allow forfeited pawn goods to be seen and reserved online, he said.

Mr Mana said the office is planning to allow brand-name products such as clothes and bags to be pledged at its pawnshops because customer behaviour has changed.

With 97% of the agency’s pawned goods gold and jewellery, and most of its employees unfamiliar with inspecting and valuing brand-name products, the office is in the process of training them to prepare for pawning these products soon, he said.

Mr Mana said government pawnshops have an edge over their competitors because of a lower interest rate, which should help them add customers.

He said the office plans to open two new branches in the provinces per year to capitalise on the local demand for shortterm loans.

It has no plan to open more branches in the capital as number of the total pawnshops operated by both the private sector and the state in Bangkok already meet the government limit set at 230. The office operates 33 pawnshops in Greater Bangkok and two in the provinces.

Separately, the surge in gold price this year should support the agency’s revenue, expected to rise 2-3% from 692 million baht last fiscal year. In the first 10 months this fiscal year, it posted 610 million baht in revenue and 302 million in net profit.