When my package was temporarily lost over the weekend, I assumed it was just the Universe preparing me for the inevitable, and I was not wrong:
Collecting is a function of time and money: you have to have at least a little of both, though most of us usually have significantly more of one than the other. For me and most of my life, it’s been time.
But I now exist in a rare moment where money is (almost) no object, where I can seriously consider attending an event halfway across that offers me no financial benefit just because I can.
(Still not likely, but I’m keeping my options open.)
I know it’s probably part of their marketing plan for the blind bags in the first place – let’s get hobbyists to interact by trading! – but that is absolutely, positively not something I have time for in my life today.
So rather than keep adding to my ever-growing stockpile of sales items in the garage, I now have to find the time to list it. And a few other things too, probably, because all the equipment and setup will already be out, so might as well make the most of it.
(The darker one is staying, because he really does look like he plopped right out of a can of cranberry sauce.)
What this means in the long run is that for future holiday blind bag promos, I am only going to be buying one, because that’ll save me the time I’d inevitably have to waste getting rid of my duplicates anyway. (You can’t get a duplicate if you only buy one!) I won’t be bothering with buying any other items in these sets secondhand because (a) that’s not how I roll and (b) I don’t like encouraging scalpers.
(Unless they happen to be cheap and/or unpopular.)
I am so annoyed by this that I’m also seriously considering tapping out of the rest of the promos through the end of the year. The likelihood of even getting picked for one is so slim nowadays that it doesn’t feel like it’s even worth the minimal effort it takes to enter for one.
And I am not so addicted to the plastic that I feel the need to purchase a half dozen more memberships just to compete.
(It is also worth noting, for context, that today’s terrible national event is literally only minutes from my house and probably has some bearing on my attitude today. I wish I could say that I’m shocked, but I’m not.)
5 comments:
This isn't the first time you got twins-? Disturbingly prescient entry on 11/16!
Seems like this is happening a lot this year. I received two gold Clydesdales. I know of another collector received two silvers. Same thing happened when I ordered the Halloween stablemates.
My partner and I bought the full set of BreyerFest Stablemates this year; later in the weekend we purchased four separate Stablemates, hoping to get another full set. Nope. We got four Rococos.
I received doubles on the Halloween Surprises a few years back, too - two Bats in the Belfy Reiners.
I have no idea how these are packaged at the factory. I'm assuming each color is wrapped separately and then they're randomized later: the standard blind bag display boxes all tend to follow the same packing pattern/order, and that would mean each person on the production line gets assigned certain molds, puts in their assigned quantity, and moves it on to the next person until the box is full.
How hard would it be just to make sure each color is shipped to the warehouse separately - assign each box a letter rather than a color - and just tell the packer to pick two from two different boxes? Unless there's some packaging protocol - i.e. they only pack in quantities of 500, not 250 - that doesn't match the production quantities?
I dunno. But there definitely needs to be change here somewhere, because this is getting really silly.
(And let's not forget the fact that two people have received double Coals. Something like that definitely needs to be fixed/tracked. There's enough random unfairness in the hobby already, no need to add to it.)
I ended up with two red little Clydes, but I found someone who wanted to trade. I agree with everyone’s comments- random really should mean random. I ended up with three Halloween fighters this fall. It’s great to find people who want to trade, but I am not thrilled about packing and shipping etc.
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