Every year, I try to make some New Year’s Resolutions in regards to hockey card collecting. This year, I’m making them public. Maybe this will make me more accountable for my collecting habits, right?
So, here are my 5 Collecting Resolutions for 2012:
5. Avoid Retail Packs En Masse
I like opening up blaster boxes as much as the next sports card blogger. Packs are fun to open and for $10 to $20 you get an easy blog post out of the deal.
But I also get a pang of remorse. Why spend $20 on a blaster when you can spend $60 or so on a hobby box and have vastly better odds of getting rookies, cool parallels, jersey or autograph cards. Plus, my local Target doesn’t really need my $20.
Will I still buy blasters and/or retail packs? Sure, once in a while. But if I am going to build a set, this year I will stick to hobby boxes.
4. Deal With Empty Boxes and Wrappers
When I buy a box of cards, I put the empty box and wrappers aside to deal with later. I save 4 wrappers with the least amount of tearing along with the top of the card box.
The problem is, I am notorious for putting this off. The boxes and wrappers pile up, taking up space on, under or around the “card table” in my “Room of Hockey” until it becomes unsightly. So in 2012, I will be more diligent in dealing with the empties.
3. Check All Sets When I Receive Them
This is probably my worst habit. I buy a set off of eBay, but don’t bother to actually check and see if each and every card is there until I have leisure time to put the set in pages. But that could be days, weeks, even months after I’ve bought it.
This is bad, bad, BAD.
I’ve been shorted a card numerous times during 2011. And really, you can’t complain to the seller about a missing or damaged card two months after the fact.
The whole reason that I buy sets in the first place is so I don’t have to mess around with tracking down more single cards. So this year I will strive to check the sets the day I get them.
2. Don’t Be A Hoarder
When I like a card, I tend to buy many copies of it. I’m not talking about having one copy of a card in a complete set and another copy for my player collection (a la Chris Chelios). I’m talking many, many copies of the same card, for really no good reason.
Why do I have 6 copies of the 1990-91 Pro Set Stanley Cup Hologram?
Because it’s cool, that’s why. But 6 of them? Wouldn’t that money be better spent towards Young Guns of Sid and Alex, or a Stan Mikita rookie card…or, you know, cards that I don’t have?
This year, I am going to ask myself that question whenever I buy a pricey card that I already have. (That includes you, Mario Lemieux).
1. Complete These @#$% Sets Already
A great deal of my want list–not just what I post online, but my 53-page Word document–is comprised of sets that just a few cards away from completion. And many of the cards I need can be found on the Beckett Marketplace for around a quarter each.
So, what’s stopping me? Sellers on the Beckett Marketplace don’t gouge on shipping, and this is a really good way to kill off many sets at once. Plus it is less time consuming than sifting through quarter boxes at a show in the hopes of finding that elusive Mark Fitzpatrick card.
This year, I am going to knock off as many sets as I can. I might even keep track of how many sets I complete in 2012.
Question: Do you have any collecting resolutions for 2012? I’d love to hear about them.
