Open Letter to Panini

[NYGiants72]

Panini Customer Service Team,

Why haven't you released the Contender SP quantities yet? I mean, I know you have been busy keeping us up to date on pressing matters like children reporting on the Superbowl and the post NFL-season release of Crown Royale football that I am sure has luke-warm excitement attached to it. But as a member of a class of faithful collectors, I respectfully request you take 30 minutes out of your day to publish these in order to feel like you don't hate me.

I mean, I am sure you probably hired some new MBA with a cookie-cutter vision of how to do business and think that keeping us in an endless state of suspense will keep us buying your Contenders inventory. God knows you probably need the business due to the slate of generic products you have given us so far in 2013 (How much Prominence do you have sitting in your warehouses?). I strongly believe that abusing your customer base is not a sound business strategy, even if your lone competitor in the football space believes it is. Please reconsider your approach

In fact, its quite possible that you are letting the air out of one of your flagship products. While I personally enjoy the SP chase, I fully realize it is an exercise in irrationality as the secondary market prices typically plummet a month after the quantities are published (hence why you may be holding out). But waiting until we all lose interest will probably just makes us less likely to buy Contenders in 2014, expecting you will similarly yank us around like this next year. Also, I'd like to suggest (per the little information you did provide), that making a large number of variations 50 or less just makes the variation set not worth pursuing and hence undesirable. There is in fact too much of a good thing.

My above complaint, coupled with your year of uninspired products (Playbook and Black were the only products with a level of originality and desirability IMHO), has led me to decide to go back on my pledge to avoid Topps at all costs, as I would rather risk the chance of spending a few years in redemption purgatory, than to buy boxes where I am thrilled to receive 30% of paid value. I mean, let's face it...opening Prizm is like opening a box of Topps Chrome while being punched repeatedly in the face.

The tragedy is that your customer service is exemplary. Accordingly, I would like to humbly suggest you send Tracy Hackler to a detail assignment to product development as it is clear both in your decision to keep the Contenders SPs close hold and your overall disappointing 2013 product line, you require guidance from someone who doesn't hate the hobby.

Very Truly Yours....
Disgruntled Collector

[freethrowtommy]

Dear Collector,
We are making money hand over fist with this product so we really don't care what you think.

Love,
Panini

[NYGiants72]

Dear Collector,
We are making money hand over fist with this product so we really don't care what you think.

Love,
Panini

Really? People bought Limited and Certified? Maybe I just keep confused because I fell asleep during 3 consecutive attempts to watch a Limited case break.

[Chaz]

Really? People bought Limited and Certified? Maybe I just keep confused because I fell asleep during 3 consecutive attempts to watch a Limited case break.

He said "this" product.

[1eyed_jack]

No offense man, but writing a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek letter to a company is a great way to ignored!

Do they even have to say the SP print runs? I kind of hope they don't after reading your letter!

[NYGiants72]

Fair enough...and I would agree that in the short term, they are probably making a ton, but expect the Contenders brand to take a significant blemish with how they handled this year's quantity release.

[HBMC]

but expect the Contenders brand to take a significant blemish with how they handled this year's quantity release.

Hardly, not only not hardly, but expect no one to care, except maybe you.

[freethrowtommy]

Really? People bought Limited and Certified? Maybe I just keep confused because I fell asleep during 3 consecutive attempts to watch a Limited case break.

I didn't mean to come off as an a-hole here, but I really feel that is what they would say if they read this letter.

People have always bought Contenders and it will probably continue regardless of if they release an exact SP list or not.

It sure would be nice if they did, but it won't change their bottom line if they don't.

[chrisfaceoff]

I didn't mean to come off as an a-hole here, but I really feel that is what they would say if they read this letter.

People have always bought Contenders and it will probably continue regardless of if they release an exact SP list or not.

It sure would be nice if they did, but it won't change their bottom line if they don't.

I agree completely with this. Sadly this is what most would probably say. I'm sure there might be one that might actually give a damn, but at the end of the day they are all probably getting **** from their boss, and to see a letter like ths they might just say #uc* it.

[wheeler281]

Fair enough...and I would agree that in the short term, they are probably making a ton, but expect the Contenders brand to take a significant blemish with how they handled this year's quantity release.

Sorry man I disagree. No chance that will happen

[corndog]

I do not like the name Panini - sounds foreign and girly.

That is all.

[toppsfan]

No offense man, but writing a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek letter to a company is a great way to ignored!

Do they even have to say the SP print runs? I kind of hope they don't after reading your letter!

This is how I felt too: either a) you are a teenager, because most adults that address a company don't keep saying "I mean" and say "IMHO" or b) think that insulting a company is a great way to get them to listen. You have a good idea, but you should revise your letter a bit if you want answers.

[panther252]

...opening Prizm is like opening a box of Topps Chrome while being punched repeatedly in the face.

Haha! I thought this part was a gem.

[jlzinck]

You should sue them

[trixstar]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/52ce17d0854527dd174a2cde3fcbac9f/tumblr_mhe7xx2LtX1ribnwko1_250.gif

[JHinGA09]

Did someone mention Panini?!

http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt344/JHnGA09/Misc/panini.jpg (http://s626.photobucket.com/user/JHnGA09/media/Misc/panini.jpg.html)

Who's hungry?

[AwesomeJuice]

Did someone mention Panini?!

http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt344/JHnGA09/Misc/panini.jpg (http://s626.photobucket.com/user/JHnGA09/media/Misc/panini.jpg.html)

Who's hungry?

Had one for lunch. A panini makers is a gift from the heavens. Much tastier than football cards

[AdamMcDermott88]

In my personal opinion Contenders sucks this year with the problem this thread is about being one of the reasons.

-Too much open white space on the right side of the cards. The cracked ice don't even look like cracked ice when scanned or take pictures of because the most visible portion of ice makes up 10% of the card.

-Variations for all parallels was a terrible idea. Last years ice /20 no parallels. This years /42 because no one cares about a variation unless it is of a significantly different print run. That's not to mention /21 is just stupid.

-In a similar argument as the last, having two championship tickets doesn't make much sense to me.

-Releasing SP numbers as 200 or less and 50 or less instead of giving the exact print run for each card. The buzz of not knowing what is SPed is great, but when you extend it too long or never give the true numbers consumers feel jipped.

[cking]

Panini does not have to provide good customer service.


You can thank the degenerate breakers for that.


Panini can do what ever it wants. All of there products sell out no matter how they treat you.

The fact that they flat out refuse to answer any questions pertaining to the Dez Bryant, Whitney Mercilus and HoneyBadger autograph fiasco tells you everything you need to know.

I don't know what is worse.

A-They were too dumb to realize the autos were fake

B-They knew they were fake and put them on the cards anyway

[chutneyfactory]

@NYGiants
I agree with nearly everything you said except maybe the part about this hurting Contenders "reputation". The problem with Panini is that the consumer (us) in general doesn't vote enough with their wallet. A handful of collectors who refuse to buy the mindless crap like Prominence or unoriginal ripoffs like Prizm don't affect them in a real way. More than that, this little NFL and NBA "side project" is a drop in the bucket compared to what they make in other pieces of their business.

[JHinGA09]

@NYGiants
I agree with nearly everything you said except maybe the part about this hurting Contenders "reputation". The problem with Panini is that the consumer (us) in general doesn't vote enough with their wallet. A handful of collectors who refuse to buy the mindless crap like Prominence or unoriginal ripoffs like Prizm don't affect them in a real way. More than that, this little NFL and NBA "side project" is a drop in the bucket compared to what they make in other pieces of their business.

I highly doubt it's just a drop in the bucket... They have the exclusive license to NBA and their spokesperson is Kobe Bryant. I don't think that would be considered a 'side project.'
Plus they have the only presence in all four major US sports.

[FINS4LIFE]

I miss UD products :(

We should get a campaign going to get there NFL & NBA printing licences back.

[JHinGA09]

I miss UD products :(

We should get a campaign going to get there NFL & NBA printing licences back.

UD couldn't pay the athletes and uphold their end of the contracts they were signing off and had too many court appearances. Sucks cuz they made good looking cards too. Richard McWilliam ran that company to the ground.

[royprice31]

Will they ever release sp list that they stated they would list?????

[NYGiants72]

A couple of thoughts from the thread.

1 - Glad to see not everyone hated what I had to say

2 - As clarification, I did not write this with any expectation of it getting to Panini. Just a vent produced by boredom. If I wanted to seriously reach out to Panini, I would reactivate the floodlight on top of my house with the Panini knight silhouette, but the cold winter has already jacked up my power bills as is so I have to be reasonable.

3 - Any attempt to denigrate someone's age or maturity on a board devoted to a childrens' hobby that has been hijacked by adults is somewhat redundant. Any shame intended by such burn is no greater than the shame that comes from the recognition that I spend hundreds of dollars to collect pictures and autographs of football players.

4 - That panini looks delicious...I wish Panera wasnt so far away

5 - While I agree Panini doesn't overly care about my feelings, I do think they will suffer at least a small bit. I stopped at 3 boxes...where the last few years I have done about 1.5 cases (not proud of that). Lets say there are 4 others like me total, which is about $8K in lost revenue. A small drop in the bucket, but companies who do wrong by their customers usually flounder in the end...drops add up, especially the four-figure variety.

6 - Not sure what grounds I could use to sue them...but I think there is an interesting argument to be made about the use of monopolistic power in the exclusive licensing to Topps and Panini. Its a bit tough since there are two licensees, but if you could show that the licensing fee is significantly inflated by its exclusivity and that the license essentially props up inferior products through creation of a distinct market, there could be something there, but my Antitrust is a bit rusty and the argument a stretch. But Al Davis has sued the NFL on shakier ground.

[jlzinck]

3 - Any attempt to denigrate someone's age or maturity on a board devoted to a childrens' hobby that has been hijacked by adults is somewhat redundant. Any shame intended by such burn is no greater than the shame that comes from the recognition that I spend hundreds of dollars to collect pictures and autographs of football players.
.

THis has not ben a children's hobby for over 20 years.

[55clemente]

I highly doubt it's just a drop in the bucket... They have the exclusive license to NBA and their spokesperson is Kobe Bryant. I don't think that would be considered a 'side project.'
Plus they have the only presence in all four major US sports.

They feel like a big presence, but OP is right that the US market is a relatively small venture for them. At the outset of their foray into the US market, it was estimated that they were doing about $1 billion in revenue. By contrast, UD at it's PEAK was only about $200 million in revenue.

No hard numbers, but lots of interesting analysis here: Card Tank: The Panini Group (http://www.sportscardradio.com/news/1393-card-tank-the-panini-group)

[WilsonValdez]

Dear Valued Customer,

Kindly go screw yourself.

PS- Don't forget to check out our drool gallery.

-Tracy Hackler

[55clemente]

Panini Customer Service Team,

Why haven't you released the Contender SP quantities yet? ...

Very Truly Yours....
Disgruntled Collector

I think this letter is even handed and well written. I agree with much of what you said and have made a similar pledge to avoid Topps. The difference between the two with regard to Customer Service is night and day. Panini does seem to try, but still occasionally hurts you. Topps is sadistic and unapologetic about it ('Oh, you'll take it and you'll LIKE it.')

About the SP quantities release date, Panini isn't actually that far behind the schedule of the past couple years. It has typically come out with the final quantities about a month after the initial release date. In 2011 and 2012, they disclosed final quantities in early March (after early Feb releases). This year, the product actually came out close to on time a little more than a month ago.

If they make us wait much longer, then we might start having cause to complain though...