Anyone Else experiencing a drought?

[Oxxon]

I have had a few come in the last two weeks.

[ranks58]

and my drought continues :(

[Atom Ryder]

I did not receive anything in the past 2 weeks :(

[TheGrapher]

I haven't received anything since Doug DeCinces last Friday.

[MasonRaymond0320]

I am hoping to mail a bunch out in the next few days. U guys get some back every day usually? Like I said in my other post...I wish I could recieve TTM autographs everyday.

I have just made a new list of players that I am going to send out to:

Brett Hull
Semyon Varlemov
Mason Raymond (would love to get his autograph again)
Brian Elliot
Brian Lee
Eric Staal
Yvan Cournoyer
Darryl Sittler
Doug Gilmour
Ted Lindesy

I need to mail some more TTMs out. I have been getting about 1 back every month.

[SMVintage]

I am hoping to mail a bunch out in the next few days. U guys get some back every day usually?

I tend to get something at least 4/6 maildays a week, which seems like a ton, but I have a TON of requests out (350++)

[ranks58]

i was getting something about every other day in january...now im getting nothing...and as for your list mason, you should get hull, sittler and gilmour back within 3 weeks...i did anyway

[roaddogg02316]

Everyone has this. I hadn't done this fully in a couple years just a few here and there during that time. I still probably have hundreds of things out there. Not sure the exact #, but the postage price change probably screwed everyone. I don't see why because I always put myself as the return address on the SASE. I'll pay the extra postage if I needed if it is an auto. But I'd imagine most is lost or something. I had one come back from Bobby Bonilla c/o home. Was 6 years old! And that had to have been about when I started doing this.

As for lately I had a good amount of hockey stuff I sent in January, they are slithering back here. I guess it all depends on the persons mail load and who handles it. I sent to some junior league teams so you can't always rely on the staff handlign things properly.

[lizard-jd]

FYI, don't start bashing! This is a personal observation and I haven't done a true statiscal sampling or scientific study about my TTMs. However, I have tracked every TTM that I have sent out in the past 4 years. I can tell you that from 2005-2007, my successful return rate was at 81%, plus the average return time was 10 weeks. My non-responders during that same period of time was only 11.4%; so you can see that those who RTS or didn't sign (or sent only price lists) was only about 7%.

Yeah, it's getting worse. From 2008-2010 (as of today), my successful return rate is at 64.86%~65%, the average retun time has increased to about 27 weeks. My non-responders during this period of time increased to 20.6% and my failures increased to 14.98%~15%. If you add non-responders to known failures, you get over 35% TTMs that didn't work!

Granted, it's hard to do a true statiscal sampling because I have sent to different people through the years. For a true statiscal comparison I would have to use the same people from one year to another. However, IMO, getting successful TTMs is getting tougher and taking longer. And yes, there are easy TTMs out there if you want to keep sending to those same poor people over and over. Yeah, I know, resend to a few of my heroes too...

Another note of interest. I typically type all my letters for TTM. In the past year, on some non-responders that I really, really wanted, I have tried resending a "hand written" letter (saying basically the same thing as the previously typed letter!) and I have received back my signed items. These have been mainly pre-1990s type players/celebs. I don't bother resending to those with a price list unless I'm willing to pay their fees (not many!). And yes, I still love to do TTM and I can't wait until the mail arrives every single day the USPS delivers!!!!

[roaddogg02316]

It also could be more and more guys just don't want to bother. Postage rate increases have a role too. I'm sure these guys know and probably think ah I dont wanna have to put postage on it, but as I put I have my address on the SASE so it will come back to me no matter what. I'll pay the extra.

I also handwrite all my requests. Not sure how many actually read them. But it does seem lately I havent really written too much personal into it. Pretty much just introduce myself, you wer ea favorite player of mine when you were with... I think you had a very good pro career to look back on. sometimes I'll fill in a highllight, but usually just end by asking for an autograph.

Hopefully they are not, not signing because my letter seems to much of a form letter. If your gonna take the time to read it then just sign.