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Buying Cards
Buying cards is a great thrill. Opening up each package is kind of like opening a birthday present from yourself to yourself. Sometimes you get lucky and get exactly what you wanted, and sometimes you are disappointed. The cards and packages inside the boxes are randomized so that you will not always get the card or cards you want, but we keep trying.
Buying cards does not harm anybody, in fact, the guild encourages buying as many cards as you wish. The concern is when a member becomes addicted to buying these cards, the guild begins to lose members.
I have been there too.
I began collecting Star Trek CCG cards when they were first released in 1995 along with Admiral Froelich and a person who we will call Tony. At the time, Tony and the Admiral were living at home with their respective parents and making in and around $6 per hour at full-time jobs, so they had a fair amount of disposable income.
I, on the other hand worked for just over minimum wage and was living in my own apartment. I had very little disposable income.
Now, Tony made more than either of us and had the fewest expenses, so he bought cards by the box.
The Admiral had a fair amount of expenses, so he did buy some cards by the box, some boxes he split with either myself or Tony, but mostly he bought cards a few packages at a time.
At first I bought a box of cards on my own. Then I split boxes of cards with the other two. Then I bought packs. Then I bought none. It soon became too much for me to continue buying large quantities of cards as I had done in the past. I was reduced to trading for the cards I needed to complete my deck. I never went bankrupt buying cards, but I did come close.
I have preached to everyone in the guild about buying too many cards. The words I speak are those of experience. I have said over and over; "don't mortgage your house to buy cards" and time and time again I have watched each player forced out of the guild because they bought too many cards. Quite frankly, I am tired of seeing the guild losing members over trivial issues that can be easily avoided.
Even today, I budget myself to $30 a week for cards and a DVD. Unless I know the money is mine to spend, I very rarely go over that budget. It doesn't always get me the cards I want, but it sure beats the hell out of going broke.
Jolan Tru
Praetor Terrill