This merch situation is really frustrating.

Eddieredder said:

tubes10s said:

Buying an extra in hopes of trading still keeps that poster out of the hands of someone who was actually at the show.  And unless you're trading it for another poster that routinely sells for the $40-$50 that you just paid for it, and not trading it for one that is "valued" a lot higher... trading up is just another form of profit.  Don't get me wrong, I don't see anything wrong with it; you got in line and waited your time, so you're welcome to buy whatever you want and do whatever you want with it, but might as well call it what it is.  

But either way... this merch situation is absolutely intentional, and choices are actively being made to create and feed the frenzy instead of taking steps to calm it.  

The problem with this theory is that they don't profit from the secondary market which is where the big margins are made. This is the same argument people made about Air Jordan shoes for years. Well now they produce way more during their "limited releases" make more money and continue to sell out. This is all happening as they print more and more every show. Doesn't add up.

They can absolutely do things to calm the situation, but some of these same steps would cause another frenzy.  

1. Make the price of the poster higher (cut down the margin for the secondary market). Can you imagine the outrage if they charged $100-200 a poster? There would be a riot.

2. Mass produce the posters. Again fans would riot because it wouldn't be "as valuable". It won't be "special"

tubes10s said:

The folks who plan and control selling the merch have it all set up exactly like they want to create the short supply and frenzied demand.  If they wanted to improve the situation, they would.  

Big Bank Hank said:

JH6056 said:

Big Bank Hank said:

JH6056 said:

Big Bank Hank said:

Seattle was crazy 6 straight days of 2-4 hour waits, I was out there for 2 of the days with my 100w speaker playing Pearl Jam music & at least 50% of those people were non-pearl jam fans w/the sole express purpose of flipping the merchandise, it was pretty easy to tell by their disdain for Pearl Jam music, my only thought she all these people pimping out Pearl Jam fans is that this is so completely fucked up, but whatever if I really want something I just find someone who can get me a extra one & I paypal them the money plus shipping, fortunately there are a lot of hella cool Pearl Jam fans out there.

Hi BBH, this doesn't help you with your poster request, but just wanted to point something out about you blasting PJ in the line for hours.  First off, love that you're bringing the PJ love and showing the love.  That said, while I was in line for 3 hrs on the day of Seattle 1, it was actually a big convo in the line among my linemates (and whoever happened to be on either side of us at various times during the wait), and we were surprised at how many of us have the same preference to NOT listen to the band we're going to see that day before the show.

It's just a preference - if I'd been in line with you I would never have asked you to stop playing PJ.  But when you said it was obvious you were in line with flippers because of their disdain for PJ music, some people are hardcore about this, they REALLY do NOT like listening to the band they're going to see on the day of the show.

So just wanted to give you that context, some of those folks may not have been non-PJ fans, some of them may have been mega PJ purists and really not wanted to have their rule broken for hours when they couldn't escape it until they were done buying!

Again, NOT saying you shouldn't do this, I think the spirit of it is far cooler and more fun than any concern about people's individual preferences, so I'm cool with it.  But wanted you to have that perspective since it was surprising how many of us in my line had the same habit, no headliner music day of show.  So the live show is fresh and knocks you that much more on your feet is how we felt. 

Big love!

I was in line Sunday for 3 hours & it was boring & uncomfortable. & fans after kept coming up to me & thanking me for bring the music, I gave of my time to try and make everyone's experience better & I would NEVER get pissed off at anyone playing Pearl Jam music, unless it was the same song on a loop, especially when I am going to be at 2 shows where I am going be singing at least 3/4 of the songs, there's no better warm up for that, and I had an amazing time at both Safeco Field shows, Tim Bierman came by and thanked me & shook my hand, so that's good enough for me.

Totally get it and I think that's awesome that you got that response!

I hope it was clear from my post to you, that 1) I love the love you show when you do that, and 2) we were ALL surprised that other people felt the way we feel, we each thought it was a fluke and there were only a few of us. 

I didn't post this to make you feel like you shouldn't do it.  I only posted to say don't assume that just because anyone looked sideways at you for blasting PJ that it automatically made them a flipper and NON-fan.  That may not be true.

But the positive vibe and good feelings are FAR more important and, as I said, I'd have been smiling at you, not grumbling, because the community feel and the joy is way more important than a preference of mine for not listening day of show.  It's all good, you should keep doing it, sounds like it makes most people really happy!

Thanks, I just love Pearl Jam just like everyone here, it's one thing that unites all of us, regardless of which album is our favorite or which song we might go take a piss during, lol. When the lights come up & we are all singing Alive together near the end of a awesome show, it's Hard To Imagine any place I would rather be, knowing that we shared that experience together, don't it make you Smile?

leep75 said:

walked right in last night right before going into the field.  The display had all 5 posters up so I was excited that perhaps they had them....no luck.  Only had the baby brain and ONE rubber arms ball player and it had massive damage to the upper left hand corner.  I offered $10 for it, but the manager said no way.  Hell, I even offered to buy the 3 I wanted off the display but he wouldn't budge on that either.

nesper said:

Eddieredder said:

BV42562 said:

tubes10s said:

The folks who plan and control selling the merch have it all set up exactly like they want to create the short supply and frenzied demand.  If they wanted to improve the situation, they would.  

Agreed

And that solution is what? Lots of people yelling fire. Not a lot of people running for water. Double or triple the amount of production of the highly sought after items.........the lines stay the same length. Flippers will still be there. 

They can make it all available online.  Right now the situation appears to be creating demand and rarity over making fans happy. It doesn't really seem like the merchandising approach is in line with the band. Maybe they have minimal hands on the merch situation and this is contracted out, maybe they need to reevaluate who handles it for them or change the approach.