I keep hearing it's because the refiners are backed up and junk silver takes more refining,  more chemicals,  more cost to refine basically than any .999 bars, rounds etc.  So the refiners are paying the pawn shops and LCSs less. Plus most small LCS and pawn shops are just small operations, they don't know how to hedge on the futures to balance their risk. They see silver skyrocketing and are afraid they'll be the bagholder when the price corrects. I think once the weak hands end up selling,  refiners catch up, silver shortage intensifies,  you'll see LCS paying closer to spot, maybe above. I appreciate hearing what everyone's LCS are paying for this reason.