My Experiences With Both Panini and Topps Redemption Exchange.

This year I decided to clear all my pending redemptions with Panini and Topps.  The Panini portion of the exchange was a tough pill to swallow because my pending items were Andrew McCutchen autos.  I held out FOREVER with the hope that they would be filled, but finally it not so many words Panini customer service told me there was no chance.  

I'll give Panini credit.  After making email contact they did everything they could to give me cards that fit into my collection.  I wrote about it here......

My Topps experience was easy in the sense that all you do is click a button online, but the execution is probably a little less desirable. After you click that you want to exchange, it is up to Topps on what they send.  From what I can see they do a really nice job in terms of value but the system doesn't cater to getting you your chosen team.  It feels that Topps automatically assumes you pulled every redemption out of the pack.  This likely helps them weed through all the people that want Mike Trout autos in return for their Henry Owens redemptions. 

This Amed Rosario was given to me in exchange for a pending Garrett Jones auto.  Rosario is a highly regarded prospect, so in terms of value I have no complaints. Plus this will be a really nice card to trade to one of my Mets friends like Doug.  It just isn't a Pirates card. 

So both redemption experiences were completely different, but you really can't be angry at the results of either. If I had a higher end Topps redempiton I would have attempted to go the extra mile to make sure something I collected was sent back in the exchange.  Since it was just a Garrett Jones that I had no money invested in I was happy with pot luck.

Thanks for reading. 

Doing my Best and Showing my Best

My daughter recently started preschool which has in turn required me to change my blogging schedule. For the last few years I've been a creature of habit on when I scan, write, organize etc.  With school my daughter comes home absolutely wiped out so some adjustments are being made with her much earlier bedtime.

The main issue is scanning time.  The office area in my house is in close proximity to my daughters bedroom.  Being that she is a light sleeper I'm always a little tentative scanning more than a couple of cards after lights out.  This makes it tough to get those trade packages scanned in a reasonable time.   Time to call an audible.

I live extremely close to where I work so I often come home for lunch.  Since I'm not cooking myself a Michelin Star quality meal, actual eating time is short.  Scanning problem solved! In the past I would often utilize my lunches writing the text to my posts or just reading other blogs.  Now I use the lunch hour to scan and use the post bedtime hours to do the quieter blogging tasks. For the immediate future these changes should keep me on my normal posting schedule. I envy my friends that have sound sleeping kids.

Now for some cards.

Bowman Best autos tend to sell cheap as I was able to get this lot for around $8.50 shipped. I probably saved a few extra bucks because the seller only had 10 feedback on eBay. The Taillon and Diaz are considered rookies.  Newman and Craig are both former Black Bears and first round picks so that is pretty cool too.

Thanks for reading