Panini Points, Redeemed

The much-maligned redemption system has its occasional perks. 

 

People who open a lot of Panini products like to complain about Panini Points. They like to complain a lot. The idea is that a "points" rewards card is inserted into a box in lieu of a "hit", which allows the company play fast and loose with the number of big cards a given box is expected to yield. (Remember, these companies liberally throw around the term "on average" to get around sounding like anything is guaranteed.

 

I've actually ended up with Panini Points twice in my collecting life, and both times ended up finding some worthwhile things to redeem them on, at least for my weird collecting needs. One of the biggest complaints is that Panini charges a significant amount of shipping to send these cards to you once you've made your selection, making it feel like you're just buying the cards instead of making a redemption. The main way to combat this is to find something in the store you might already buy (a box, perhaps?) That way, the shipping charge difference between buying the box itself and adding the Panini Points redemptions is negligible. At least, that's how I sell it to my brain. (If you're curious, I bought a Donruss baseball "mega box".)

My Points this time came from a failed redemption that I submitted more than two years ago. It was supposed to be some sort of Milwaukee Brewers autograph of a lesser known player, if I recall. It was pulled for me in a box break. I knew I'd much rather have a card or two for my personal collection than the random Brewers player, and while it took a bit of work to get there, I ended up with two cards I'm happy to own. I'm always looking to add new Wesley Matthews cards to my collection, and the Josh Huff rookie autograph checks both the Oregon Ducks and Philadelphia Eagles boxes for me.

You can see what I ended up with during my last trip to Panini Points Lane (scroll to the end). I think I went one for two on that trip, with a signed card by a late Blazers great and jersey card of a guy who once said some regrettable stuff.