A final F U from Panini

                                       
I bought this Carl Eller Golden Age auto from COMC back in early 2017. I believe that I had already decided to collect all three Golden Age autograph sets by then (an idea I've since abandoned), and for 7 or 8 bucks this seemed like a pretty good deal at the time.

Fast forward to Black Friday of that same year, and I bought a couple of $25 Golden Age boxes from Steel City Collectibles (feels like a lifetime ago), the 2013 box of which yielded a redemption for the very same Carl Eller autograph:

Folks who just started collecting in the last few years are probably having heart palpitations right about now, but there's no need for that, you see, Panini was still honoring expired redemptions back in 2017. I know that it may sound crazy, but it's absolutely true. In fact, they had already honored three of my expired Golden Age redemptions throughout the year prior to this one. Because of that, and because I knew that Carl had already signed the cards (if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to buy one), I figured that, at best, I'd have to wait a month or two for my second Carl Eller autograph. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I heard nothing for months, then those months turned into years. Then the Rona showed up and everything went to shit. Panini, like pretty much every other company, was having problems galore around this time, and even though I had realized by that point that I was not going to be getting my Carl Eller, I didn't want to be just another asshole that was tearing them a new one on social media for not responding to emails and phone calls; there were enough of those already.

I can't remember when it was exactly, but in late 2020 or early 2021, Panini put out a thing that said they were now fulfilling old redemptions again. Even so, I still knew that I wouldn't ever be seeing Carl. I was still hoping to get something for him though, so I decided to send an email to the person who was in charge of swapping out redemptions for cards of (alleged) equal value. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a response. I then sent a second email, still no response. A third email yielded bupkus as well. 

Not too long after my third email, all of the news started coming out that Panini had lost there licenses for just about everything. I figured then that I'd never be getting anything for Carl, and that probably a lot of other people were gonna end getting screwed out of their old redemptions as well. Or were they?

Panini started sending out emails last month about replacing old redemptions. To me, those emails felt like one of those times where someone's using a lot of words, but wasn't actually saying anything. Since the ones I got didn't mention contacting anyone in particular to switch out your redemption, I kind of thought that they were just gonna send a random thing of their choosing and call it good. That wouldn't have been good, but any something would've been better than nothing, or so I thought. 

I received this email two days ago. Definitely not what I was expecting. Is 150 points a lot? I don't know, it didn't sound like a lot.

Having never had any Panini Rewards Points before, I've never had reason to visit their Rewards site, and therefor had no idea what to expect. After having now done so, I'm glad I didn't go in with any sort of expectations.

Right away I was met with things over 150 points, and kind of crappy looking things if I'm being honest. If that stuff cost that much, what kind of dregs was I gonna find in the sub-150 point category? After setting the points filter to 150 or less, I soon found out. 

Starting first with baseball...

This was just a sample of what could be found for 150 points, but. these. are. awful. I didn't recognize a single name in the baseball category. I thought maybe I'd have better luck with the football...

Nope! There was a lot more to choose from in the football, but I still didn't recognize any of the names. I'm glad to know that I could trade my Carl Eller for a 50-point Aaron Lynch (who?) though. And why are all of these cards so damn ugly? No wonder Panini lost their licenses. I wouldn't even take these cards if someone walked up and handed them to me for free. What would I do with them?

There was nothing in the entertainment category, so my last hope was with basketball.

Hey, Mehmt Okur, I remember him! Looks like I could replace my Carl Eller with a child's relic (bib?) too, I must be a fool not to jump on that deal. 

There was a LOT of basketball cards that could be had for 150 points, and even some names that I recognized, but nothing I'd want, that is until this came up

I thought, "Wow, that's actually kind of a neat card!". A beloved former Blazer, and someone I actually actively collect, what were the odds. I finished going through the offerings, and found a total of 4 different Brian Grant autographs, two as a Laker (boo!), and two as a Heat. It was kind of weird to see him, who had a very respectable NBA career, mixed in with a bunch of nobodies. Whatever, I found this nifty card, even though it still wouldn't be a fair swap for the Carl Eller, but I wanted it nonetheless. The next step was to put it in the cart, then add some other info, before finally getting to the checkout.

Woot? I've got to pay shipping to use my redemption points? Shitty as that is, I now very much wanted this Brian Grant, so I was gonna go through with it, though I didn't need this expensive shipping option, regular old First Class would do just fine. All I had to do is switch the shipping option...

Again... Woot? And here I had thought that they had automatically selected the most expensive shipping option. Nope, that was the cheapest. So, let me get this straight, I'm trading my Carl Eller and $13.52 for this Brian Grant auto? As much as I love Rasta Monsta, this ain't gonna be happening. Obviously if things were on the up and up, Panini would send this to me for free, but clearly they're not. 

After seeing this, I can only imagine how many redemptions are gonna be left on the table. Legally, I don't know how this isn't considered to be fraud, but I'm no lawyerologist, so I'll have to leave that for someone else to decide. In the meantime, this sucks, I got my heart all set on getting this Brain Grant, only for Panini to shit all over it. 

I hate to say it, Panini, because I really liked your Golden Age sets (and I suspect that you'll be bringing them back now that you can't do anything else), but... fuck you, too! You could've gone out with some class, and dignity, but instead you chose to go out like an asshole and screw everyone over. 

P.S. An an extra rub to all of this, I looked around for the Brian Grant, hoping that I could pick it up for cheaper than $13.52 somewhere, but nope, it's not currently for sale anywhere :(