As a former Cash America employee I can say this. I worked for the company for about three years and turned down an offer to move to the management program. Not because it was a bad company, because it is a great company to work for, it just wasn't the career path I was going down.
Yes, the price code is MARYLOUISE M=1, A=2, etc, E=0. As previously mentioned. That's the amount they have in the item. There is no way to tell if the item was bought for immediate sale or came from a turned over pawn. Either way, when an item goes out on the sales floor the price is set by the store manager. He/she may have no idea what the item is worth and may guess and way over price (or hopefully under price) it. I assume now they look to the internet, but the internet we now know was not an option when I worked there. I still feel like there are some issues as I just visited another major chain pawn shop and they were asking more than new price on a Craftsman tool box.
Date code- this is the key... shops are less flexible the less an item has been on the shelves. If an item came up for sale today the date code on the sticker would be 1/13. Although the initial pricing can be absurd, Cash America (Corp. mgt) isn't willing to deal on price too much within a month of the item coming up for sale. However, now we are in 1/13, find an item that has been on the shelves for three months and they are really ready to deal (10/12). This is where MARYLOUISE really kicks in.
Say we find a guitar that we really want. The price is $200. We look at the tag and see that the price code is MEE and the date code is 10/12. That means they have $100 in the guitar and it went on the floor in Oct. 2012. Well, it's now 1/13 and that guitar has been on the floor for around 3 months, they want to move it. You now know what they have in it and how long it's been there. Bargain accordingly...
Bottom line, never pay sticker price at a pawn shop!!!!!!
