Gold Rush, Part 9

With gold bouncing around $1,250 an ounce these days, Sears/Kmart is announcing a deal with consumer gold buyers to help customers sell gold items for cash.

The new service, available at the jewelry departments of Sears and Kmart stores, allows customers to send their gold and silver items to Pro Gold Network, a company that buys precious metals from consumers.

Pro Gold makes an offer on the gold or silver and the consumer can choose to accept the offer or have the items returned, free of charge, Sears said. 

Sears provides the shipping envelope and also helps consumers track the items via websites or a toll-free customer service number.

Smart move on Sears' part.  The opportunity cost of long-distance pawn shopping has dropped considerably with gold being this expensive, and there's little cost to Sears to do this and a lot to gain if customers then have cash to buy items at the store.

Just another sign of the times.  Gold may be the 24-karat star these days, but you can't buy lunch with it.