Fungible

Fungibility...the capacity to exchange one thing for another thing. Antiques, for example, are fungible; an antique sewing machine can be exchanged for ready cash at an antique store. A digital camera can be exchanged for cash at a pawn shops. Fungibility is the thief's friend.

But you have to be choosy when making friends. It's not enough for a thing to be fungible; it must also be easily portable. Which is better...a digital camera that can be tucked into your jacket pocket and exchanged for twenty-five bucks at a nearby pawn shop? Or an antique sewing machine that has to be hauled to an antique store in the back of a vehicle? The sewing machine will bring in more money...but is it worth the extra effort?

A life of crime is full of big words and difficult choices.