Through The Mail Failure – Mark Howe
I knew I would hook you with that title. I mean who can pass up something for nothing? I sure can’t and I’m hoping neither can you. The reason for this freebie can be chalked up to this note I got back from Mark Howe:
While I don’t begrudge players from charging for their autograph, I don’t feel as though $15+$5 for inscription is fair. If people are indeed going to eBay and reselling his TTM autographs, they are getting on average $3 including shipping. After fees we are talking about $2 (again on average). Now I do understand the money is going to charity. I get that and I am not about dismissing it, but why not sign the card and ask to donate. I bet you’d not only get more people donating, but you’d get more money. I’ve actually donated to the Howe Foundation before, I did it out of admiration to the Howe family. I didn’t want or expect an autograph in return.
Now clearly this is a card that was made by someone. It’s for a personal collection and if it does get resold, I will be long gone from this world. Because it’s a card made by someone it has little to no value (which is why I am giving it away). So all you have to do is subscribe to my blog so that you get my posts as an email, and leave a quick comment. In return, if you are the one selected, I will send you the card and the note that Mark sent me so you know where to send it and how much to donate to get the autograph.
Again, I have no problem with athletes asking for a suggested donation, or flat out asking for money. However if this isn’t an in person event, make the donation a suggested amount and sign the card regardless of the donation. That’s all I ask. In the end if he had signed it and asked for the donation, I would have donated again. Now I’m completely turned off by it and don’t even want it in my collection which is why someone else has a chance to get his signature on his terms.
Let me know where you stand on this, I’m very curious if I’m out of line or not. Either way good luck winning the card, I will hold the drawing tomorrow night at 7pm (entries after that will be ignored, but thanks in advance to subscribing and leaving a comment).
Bad Wax Customs 