Be warned before thinking this is a good idea

[phantom]

As tempting as these sticker albums always are, these figures are scary but would assume in comparison we always paid something similar?

A football finance expert says it could cost almost £900 to complete the latest official World Cup sticker album. But is there a cheaper way? And will the rising cost of shinies deter collectors from chasing those elusive final players?

"Got. Got. Got. Need."

It's that time again. Just months until the start of the World Cup, and thoughts turn to years of vital tradition.

And few rituals have endured like filling in the Panini sticker book.

Many have already started collecting and sticking. But some have noticed that it's not just the players or teams that have changed - the price has gone up too.

According to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, completing the official Qatar 2022 book could cost up to £883.80.

Kieran, who himself has been collecting stickers for many years, says the price of a five-pack has gone up from 20p many years ago to 90p now.

In total there are 670 to collect.

A quick maths lesson from Kieran tells us, assuming you manage to get all 670 on your first go, that works out at £120.60

But the University of Liverpool academic tells Radio 1 Newsbeat that's "possible but highly improbable", as anyone who's quested for that final, obscure sticker will know.

Kevin says there is a one in 669 chance of repeat stickers, meaning that when you "do the maths", the final total could be more like £883.80.

"If you put the numbers into a probability machine, that's the way it works out," he says.

With the cost of living crisis permanently in the news at the moment, will the spiralling cost be enough to put off seasoned sticker hunters?

Callum Watson, who has been collecting World Cup stickers since the 2010 tournament in South Africa, thinks not.

The 27-year-old says the hobby brings a bit of added excitement to the occasion.

"It gives me a buzz that the World Cup is about to start," he says.

"And it gives me a chance to look back at the previous World Cup and see the changes to teams over the years."

Normally, Callum spends up to £100 on his albums, and higher prices even for an incomplete book will not put him off.

"I'm always up for doing it. You have to look at it as a four-year thing," he says.

"My favourite memory is swapping with your mates, when there's loads of you around the table swapping."

Money man Kieran says swapping with other collectors is the most well-known workaround for those looking to save some cash.

"You can also buy the stickers directly from Panini," he says. "If you go through that approach it will probably reduce the cost to around £150.

"There's quite a big community out there of people who are involved [in swapping]."

Why have prices gone up?

Kieran says the best time to turn to systems such as swaps to fill in the gaps is once you've bought at least 50 packs.

"It's the nature of the beast, Panini have to pay a royalty figure to FIFA," Kieran says.

"And they have to negotiate with the individual football associations to get the rights to use the shirt and the badge. So it's an expensive business for them."

But he says it's the tradition that keeps the likes of him and Callum sticking with the hobby.

Kieran adds: "There's no better feeling than that final sticker in that final team, especially if it's done before the tournament starts."

TAKEN FROM: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-62724334

[elhombrecito]

"You can also buy the stickers directly from Panini," he says. "If you go through that approach it will probably reduce the cost to around £150.

So nowhere near as much as £880 then. 

[CyderInACan]

4 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

"You can also buy the stickers directly from Panini,"

That just defies the object really? The whole fun of it was never knowing what sticker you'd get! Mind you I only ever completed 1 album - Football '85. Classic. 

[Ronnie Sinclair]

I normally buy an entire box of packs, and then if any gaps after that in the album hop on the swaps sites

[downendcity]

8 minutes ago, Ronnie Sinclair said:

I normally buy an entire box of packs.

 Something for the week-end Ronnie? 

[Tinmans Love Child]

I did the 2010 one and completed it.  Much easier when you are an adult and have cash to buy loads.  We also had an email group at work and used to send lists of required stickers around and send swaps in the internal mail!

[chucky]

45 minutes ago, CyderInACan said:

That just defies the object really? The whole fun of it was never knowing what sticker you'd get! Mind you I only ever completed 1 album - Football '85. Classic. 

I have only ever completed 3 sticker albums, World cup Mexico '86, Transformers and the 1994 WWF wrestling album.

[Sleepy1968]

Stickers aren't uniformly distributed. These companies know how to extract value from kids obsessions*. In the same ballpark as that publisher (di agasteno?) who wants you to collect all 52 weekly copies of a magazine make a ten pound (value, not weight model aircraft/spacecraft/ship in a bottle, etc: .

*But it wouldn't be surprising to learn that the average age of a sticker collector in Britain is fi-fi-fifty three, fifty three.

[Crackers Corner]

for those on here who collect why not set up a thread and swap at AG on matchdays?

could save a small fortune

Edited August 31, 2022 by Crackers Corner

[Major Isewater]

2 hours ago, phantom said:

As tempting as these sticker albums always are, these figures are scary but would assume in comparison we always paid something similar?

A football finance expert says it could cost almost £900 to complete the latest official World Cup sticker album. But is there a cheaper way? And will the rising cost of shinies deter collectors from chasing those elusive final players?

"Got. Got. Got. Need."

It's that time again. Just months until the start of the World Cup, and thoughts turn to years of vital tradition.

And few rituals have endured like filling in the Panini sticker book.

Many have already started collecting and sticking. But some have noticed that it's not just the players or teams that have changed - the price has gone up too.

According to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, completing the official Qatar 2022 book could cost up to £883.80.

Kieran, who himself has been collecting stickers for many years, says the price of a five-pack has gone up from 20p many years ago to 90p now.

In total there are 670 to collect.

A quick maths lesson from Kieran tells us, assuming you manage to get all 670 on your first go, that works out at £120.60

But the University of Liverpool academic tells Radio 1 Newsbeat that's "possible but highly improbable", as anyone who's quested for that final, obscure sticker will know.

Kevin says there is a one in 669 chance of repeat stickers, meaning that when you "do the maths", the final total could be more like £883.80.

"If you put the numbers into a probability machine, that's the way it works out," he says.

With the cost of living crisis permanently in the news at the moment, will the spiralling cost be enough to put off seasoned sticker hunters?

Callum Watson, who has been collecting World Cup stickers since the 2010 tournament in South Africa, thinks not.

The 27-year-old says the hobby brings a bit of added excitement to the occasion.

"It gives me a buzz that the World Cup is about to start," he says.

"And it gives me a chance to look back at the previous World Cup and see the changes to teams over the years."

Normally, Callum spends up to £100 on his albums, and higher prices even for an incomplete book will not put him off.

"I'm always up for doing it. You have to look at it as a four-year thing," he says.

"My favourite memory is swapping with your mates, when there's loads of you around the table swapping."

Money man Kieran says swapping with other collectors is the most well-known workaround for those looking to save some cash.

"You can also buy the stickers directly from Panini," he says. "If you go through that approach it will probably reduce the cost to around £150.

"There's quite a big community out there of people who are involved [in swapping]."

Why have prices gone up?

Kieran says the best time to turn to systems such as swaps to fill in the gaps is once you've bought at least 50 packs.

"It's the nature of the beast, Panini have to pay a royalty figure to FIFA," Kieran says.

"And they have to negotiate with the individual football associations to get the rights to use the shirt and the badge. So it's an expensive business for them."

But he says it's the tradition that keeps the likes of him and Callum sticking with the hobby.

Kieran adds: "There's no better feeling than that final sticker in that final team, especially if it's done before the tournament starts."

TAKEN FROM: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-62724334

I want nothing to do with this crooked charade they are calling the World Cup, I am boycotting totally this aberration in Qatar.Therefore Panini can stick their stickers where it’s most appropriate.

 

[downendcity]

57 minutes ago, Crackers Corner said:

for those on here who collect why not set up a thread and swap at AG on matchdays?

could save a small fortune

[fairweather]

I read about the Panini brothers. If I recall, They started adding porcelain toys to mail order sweets, then stickers, then dropped the sweets. 
 

Anyway - developed one of the largest private collections of Maseratis.

I think that tells you all you need to know

[TBW]

I swear there's one of these posts every two years for the Euros or World Cup... WE KNOW!

[maxjak]

  Should have produced a sticker album of .....  World Cup Qatar 2022  Exploited Foreign Workers?  Though of course they wouldn't have any photo's?        As they couldn't give a rat's ass what they looked like, as long as they worked their 14 hours a day?     

[AppyDAZE]

48 minutes ago, downendcity said:

Never mind swapping anything, every time I see that little *****'s smarmy face, I want to smack the ******.

I think we know which one I'm talking about.

He isn't a woman, he isn't dead, and he isn't John Craven.

Edited August 31, 2022 by AppyDAZE

[Dr Balls]

Still got this complete card album (and the other All Stars ones too) somewhere in the basement:

What a winning combination - cheesy star-shaped corn snacks and football cards. Genius!

[Negan]

Any grown adult who spends over £800 on stickers needs to give their head a wobble. Noncey behaviour. 

[phantom]

4 hours ago, elhombrecito said:

"You can also buy the stickers directly from Panini," he says. "If you go through that approach it will probably reduce the cost to around £150.

So nowhere near as much as £880 then. 

Admittedly I think the last album I did was Mexico '86, I thought you could only order a maximum of 50 from panini - in theory to complete the missing stickers?

I would guess this is how this works?

1 hour ago, Major Isewater said:

I want nothing to do with this crooked charade they are calling the World Cup, I am boycotting totally this aberration in Qatar.Therefore Panini can stick their stickers where it’s most appropriate.

 

As much as I admire your stance on the Qatar, nobody is going to notice one iota that people are boycotting the world cup.

The games will sell out, TV rights have be sold and sponsorship has gone through the roof.

Those passing around the brown envelopes will no doubt be very happy with their results

[Mad Cyril]

1 hour ago, fairweather said:

I read about the Panini brothers - developed one of the largest private collections of Maseratis.

I think that tells you all you need to know

I assume they used swapsies to complete the set?

[Tinmans Love Child]

3 hours ago, chucky said:

I have only ever completed 3 sticker albums, World cup Mexico '86, Transformers and the 1994 WWF wrestling album.

Ah yes I did the 94 wrestling album, happy times!  I also had all the parts in the binder for World Cup 94 and completed the first premier league one with Swindon in!

[Bristol Rob]

8 minutes ago, Mad Cyril said:

I assume they used swapsies to complete the set?

And a car with metallic paint was worth two with a regular paint job.

[Tinmans Love Child]

57 minutes ago, Negan said:

Any grown adult who spends over £800 on stickers needs to give their head a wobble. Noncey behaviour. 

Adults who collect stickers are behaving like “a person who commits a crime involving sex, especially sex with a child”*

Bit harsh!

*Cambridge dictionary definition

Edited August 31, 2022 by Tinmans Love Child

[PHILINFRANCE]

1 hour ago, AppyDAZE said:

Never mind swapping anything, every time I see that little *****'s smarmy face, I want to smack the ******.

I think we know which one I'm talking about.

He isn't a woman, he isn't dead, and he isn't John Craven.

I know what you mean, but, but back in the 1970s, his Sunday morning radio show was really enjoyable, as were his later weekday morning ones, The Radio One Breakfast Show.

Very similar, in my opinion, to Chris Tarrant in so far as it concerns his radio show and real life persona - a not very interesting fact, but I was actually present in the pub that lunchtime he had one  too many and was stopped and arrested for drink driving.

Edited August 31, 2022 by PHILINFRANCE

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, Negan said:

Any grown adult who spends over £800 on stickers needs to give their head a wobble. Noncey behaviour. 

One of the weirdest statements made on OTIB.

And that is a very, very high  bar

[Negan]

37 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Adults who collect stickers are behaving like “a person who commits a crime involving sex, especially sex with a child”*

Bit harsh!

*Cambridge dictionary definition

Alarm bells are ringing if a 42 year old bloke is buying football stickers is all I’m saying. 

[Leveller]

The whole collecting bug is odd really.

I mean, if they just published a book with the photos of all the World Cup players already in it, how many people would buy it? Or pay more than a tenner?

[The Bard]

10 minutes ago, Negan said:

Alarm bells are ringing if a 42 year old bloke is buying football stickers is all I’m saying. 

Collection of football stickers by an adult isn't in any way questionable is it? No more so than stamp or coin collecting,  having a trainset or being a trainspotter.

None of those things are my bag but there is nothing questionable. No one is getting hurt or abused if a grown man or woman collects football stickers.

[Tinmans Love Child]

34 minutes ago, Negan said:

Alarm bells are ringing if a 42 year old bloke is buying football stickers is all I’m saying. 

What alarm bells, that he’s a paedo?  Really?  

[handsofclay]

It's similar with that model building magazine. First part introductory price 99p to build a model of The Flying Scotsman. I did that, then someone online pointed out that with subsequent editions of the magazine costing about £5.99 that to build the entire Flying Scotsman would cost about £1600. I thought 'No Way!'

So I just had that first part, the front part of the Flying Scotsman then my only other expenditure was on the last part £5.99 for the back end of the famous steam loco, then I just built a tunnel out of paper mache and had the front part emerging from the tunnel and the back end just entering it. Et voilà The Flying Scotsman for under a tenner.

[PHILINFRANCE]

18 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

It's similar with that model building magazine. First part introductory price 99p to build a model of The Flying Scotsman. I did that, then someone online pointed out that with subsequent editions of the magazine costing about £5.99 that to build the entire Flying Scotsman would cost about £1600. I thought 'No Way!'

So I just had that first part, the front part of the Flying Scotsman then my only other expenditure was on the last part £5.99 for the back end of the famous steam loco, then I just built a tunnel out of paper mache and had the front part emerging from the tunnel and the back end just entering it. Et voilà The Flying Scotsman for under a tenner.

You mean, something like this?