By Karine Hains, Editor-In-Chief

Recently, one of my fellow SCF writers produced an article titled “A Look at the True Value of your Box Breaks”.While she took the time to research her article and to bring some solid facts to the table, I would like to express a different view. Of course, I can’t argue with the figures she provided. Truth be told, chances are that when you buy a box of cards, the total value of the hits pulled will not add up to your investment. However, is this really important?

Let me explain myself…You, me and everyone on Sportscardforum are collecting something, be it card, memorabilia or figurines to name a few. Now, why are most of us doing this? Is it because we have to, do we have some sort of obligation? No…that can’t be it…Is it because it’s our job? No. The 40 hours a week I spend in central London prove that collecting definitely isn’t my job…Is it because we do not have anything better to do? No, between video games, movies, gigs, books and sports events I can think of hundreds of other things I could be doing right now…So…then I suppose we do it, we collect, simply because it’s our hobby of choice.

By definition, a hobby is: “An activity or interest pursued outside one’s regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure”. Keeping this in mind, if you truly collect as a hobby, should you expect to make your money back when you buy a box to bust? Let me ask you this, say your hobby is going out for dinner and having a few drinks with friends. How much will that set you back? Well, here in the UK a standard meal in say TGI Friday’s will cost you about £12.99 for your main and if you have a sweet tooth and decide to get a desert (Apple Waffle Crunch uuummmm) it will be another £5.99. Then of course you need a few drinks, I know that I never leave TGI without having had at least two cocktails. So for argument’s sake lets say two Woo Woos (large ones not the tiny ones), that’s another £16.00. Overall, my evening has just cost me £34.98, in American dollars that’s 51 big ones. So, if I sacrifice 2 of those evenings I can get one hobby box….ummmm not bad. No offense to my friends either, but if I go for the box rather than the dinners, well, I will have something left after I actually bust the box. On the other hand, hunger will soon catch up with me after the nice dinner. In both cases, I will have had a great time but only in one situation will I have something to show for it. Unless of course you are one of those people who carry your digital camera everywhere and will have pictures of the evening for keeps. Before you call me an antisocial weirdo, yes I still see my friends and socialize but I much prefer to invite them over and have a home cooked meal and drinks which while less glamorous will be just as nice.

As for making your money back, well, if collecting is truly a hobby for you, you shouldn’t feel the need to make your money back. After all, a hobby is something you do for pleasure, not profit. If your hobby was to go to the cinema or go see a NHL match, would you expect to make your money back somehow? You probably wouldn’t…Of course, card collecting is a bit of a different animal, and each card has a book value! It must mean that the aim is to make money! Or is it? Be honest here, is money such a big issue for you when you are collecting? It’s not for me…

I spend a fair amount of money on cards every year and yes it is safe to say that I would probably have more cards for my personal collection if I only bought singles but where is the fun in that? Where is the chase? Where is the gamble? Where is the interaction? When I buy a single card, yes I look forward to getting it but the point is I know exactly what is coming. However, when a full box is making its way to me well, I wonder if I’ll get a huge pull, what kind of trade bait it will yield… Most importantly though, when it gets here and I bust the packs one by one I really enjoy myself for a couple of hours. Inevitably, some breaks will be better than others; you win some and you lose some as they say.

As for pulling things you can’t manage to trade, well this is part of the gamble. One way or another there is always something to do with unwanted/untradable cards. For instance, On Saturday, I donated a box of 300 base cards to a charity shop on Upminster’s main street. You may think this is England you’re talking about, no one will want them…you would be wrong. Three days later, the box had been sold. I can’t be sure but I like to think that it was bought by a little boy I often see playing soccer over at the park while wearing his favorite team colours…No not Manchester United or Chelsea, this boy wears his Devils number 30 jersey every time he plays soccer and yes he is a goaltender or a keeper as they call them here. I think I may strike up a conversation with him one of these days and ask him if he wants my Brodeur base duplicates.

To sum up, I’m not bothered about not making my money back because I’m in this hobby for the fun of it and if I didn’t spend the money on this, I would spend it on something else and not expect a monetary return in any case. I’m of the view that the obsession with book value has reached ridiculous heights and that people need to remember what the hobby is all about; fun. We’re not investment bankers, we’re collectors… In my eyes at least…