No Purchase Necessary vs Red Hot Rookie Redemptions
(oh, it’s on now, son)
This time of year is pretty slow for me as far as maildays are concerned. However, on Saturday I received two packages. One was a card I bought. The other was a Topps NPN. Normally this wouldn’t bug me, but it got me thinking. I’ve sent in three redemptions in ‘08 and haven’t seen one of them yet. I’ve sent in for about 10 NPNs through both Topps and Upper Deck and have gotten about half of them redeemed. Topps has been a lot better about sending out the NPNs than Upper Deck, by the way. I’ve received all four that I sent out for from Topps, and have gotten only one of the six or so that I requested online from Upper Deck. While I’m batting 1.000 on Topps NPNs, I’m still swinging at flies on the Red Hot Rookie redemption that I pulled from the ‘08 Topps S2 Jumbo HTA Hobby box.
So which card redemption gimmick is better? Let’s explore the two sides.
No Purchase Necessary
It’s pretty easy to do. You just follow the directions on the back of the pack and wait. The problem is, you’ll likely be waiting for quite a while. The NPN I got in the mail this past weekend was redeemed from ‘08 Topps Chrome. Just as with the rest of the NPNs, you’re supposed to receive at random any insert card from the given set at the same odds that they are seeded into packs. It kinda gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside just thinking about the huge hit you’ll get for free. Well, snap back to reality for a second here, because this is the type of card you’re likely to get…
Oh, sure, it’s a refractor. But that’s about all it is. I mean, hell. It came with a stain on the bottom left corner! Seriously? I mean, I shouldn’t complain because, hey, it’s a free card. Mr. Belliard would be embarrassed.
So, +1 for getting a free card (if you don’t count the fact that you probably at least purchased the pack on which the NPN information is contained, and if you don’t count the cost of the envelope, post card, and stamp), and -1 for getting in return a damaged card that would normally have been worth just a little bit more than a base common. Hooray.
Red Hot Rookie Redemption
The only way you’re actually getting one of these for free is if some generous fool gives it to you. But I suppose Topps would have to actually print and send these out first. Has anyone actually seen these things yet?
One huge difference between this and the NPNs is that you’ll at least know what you’re going to get. If you don’t like what your redemption card promises you, then trade it, sell it, eat it, burn it, pee on it… whatever. Not only that, but you know going in that there’s a hell of a much better chance for your card to actually be worth something some day.
Another huge difference is that, unfortunately, even though you’ve sent in your redemption, there’s no guarantee you’ll even get your card. While you’re not necessarily guaranteed to get anything back on an NPN, it’s highly unlikely that you won’t get something from their cardboard flooded warehouses. With these cards, you have to first wait for them to be printed. Then, you have to wait your turn in the delivery order. You also have to hope and pray that Topps doesn’t run out of cards before they get to your redemption. That, of course, begs the question "why do they print more redemption cards than the cards for which they are redeemed?" My guess is because they know that not each and every card will be pulled and they don’t want to waste their print run on redeemable cards that will just end up collecting dust right next to all of those unclaimed NPN cards. That just leads to a whole different mess that I’ll probably get into with a future post.
To get back on point… with redemptions, you’re almost taking a much larger gamble on something that you actually paid money for. It is, of course, all risk versus reward when it comes to the redemption program. If I’m lucky enough to have my card redeemed, I will be rewarded with the physical version of this…
So, +1 for letting the consumers know what they’ll be getting, and keeping the list of cards relatively small, and -1 for not guaranteeing anything at all–not even whether you’ll actually be getting the card you’re redeeming. Another +1 for instant value, no matter how gimmicky the program is, but another -1 for being unprofessionally slow about getting the cards out to those who sent in their redemptions.
Why do I think they’re being slow, you might ask? Here’s what Topps is telling me. They say that I redeemed my card on June 26 of 2008 (which I believe is also the same day Topps announced the particular player which I’d be redeeming). They also state that my request is pending because "the card is planned to be shipped 30 weeks from the date that the code was entered." We’re now on week 29. So, you’re thinking that I shouldn’t be calling them slow if it hasn’t even been the full 30 weeks yet. Well, considering that many people redeemed cards up to a month before I did, someone should have gotten something by now. Anything. Not only that, but the redemption cards themselves stated that shipment would begin in November of 2008. Oh, but that’s not all, it has been revealed that there has been a delay in redemption processing. Oh joy!
In the end, I think that if I ever do get my redemptions back, I’d side with the redemption program. Until then, I’m happy getting free cards. But just barely.
P.S.
Has Topps issued any Finest Rookie Redemptions yet?
