June 2018 Loot Locker

I got my baseball Loot Locker for June a couple of days ago, so here's my monthly breakdown. As usual, I ordered the Triple Play locker instead of the All-Star. The Triple Play costs a little more, but also includes a couple more packs. There is also a high-end Grand Slam option, as well as similar options for the other major sports.

Loot Lockers ship in a 400-count card box with a locker-themed sticker on top to advertise for the company and their partner, collecting supply company Ultra-Pro.

Here is the line-up for June. I got the usual pack of Ultra-Pro top loaders and sleeves, a little bag of candy, 2 packs of 2018 Bowman, 3 packs of 2018 Topps Series 2, and 3 packs of 2018 Topps Pro Debut. Let's break down the estimated cost of the included packs, to see if $30 + $5 shipping is a good deal for this month's Loot Locker. My method is to take the hobby box price from major online retailers, divide by the number of packs in a box, and then multiply by the number of packs in the locker.

2018 Bowman: $152.95 / 24 packs = $6.37 x 2 packs = $12.75
2018 Topps Series 2: $64.95 / 36 = $1.80 x 3 packs = $5.41
2018 Topps Pro Debut: $69.95 / 24 = $2.91 x 3 packs = $8.74

$12.75 + $5.41 + $8.74 = $26.90

That number is on the low end of the values I've see over the 6 months I've been keeping track. It can probably be attributed largely to the drop in prices on boxes of Bowman recently. They went from $7.50 a pack in May to $6.37 per pack in June. If you go with the $7.50 value for Bowman, this box is right about where my calculated average Triple Play Loot Locker 'value' has been over the last few months.

The two Bowman packs yielded two 2018 RoY Favorites inserts and not much else. Rafael Devers is struggling a bit so far in 2018, and Francisco Mejia seems to be fighting with the Indians over playing anywhere but catcher, which seems to be delaying his move back to the MLB roster from AAA.

The Pro Debut packs gave me a couple of Pomo Night Uniforms inserts, a MiLB Leaps and Bounds insert of A.J. Puk, and a base card of Ronald Acuna. Nothing else from the packs really jumped out at me.

The 2018 Topps Series 2 gave me a short-printed Greg Maddux variation. This photo variation card is the type that falls approximately one per box. I also got an All-Star insert of Frank Thomas, a Gold parallel of Jonathan Lucroy, and a Topps Salute insert of Austin Hays.

That wasn't the greatest break ever, but busting packs is a lottery. I am tempted to skip July, but the pack lineup for July includes Allen & Ginter, Stadium Club, and Optic. That's a hard group to pass up. I guess we'll see.

May 2018 Loot Locker

I don't have my usual picture of the outside of a Loot Locker to put up at the top of this post, but I got my May Loot Locker in the mail a day or two ago. As usual, I went with the Triple Play option that includes a little more than the slightly cheaper All-Star box. There are also football and basketball lockers.

Here is what I got in my Loot Locker for the month. A couple pieces of candy, some Ultra Pro top loaders and sleeves, 1 pack of 2018 Panini Diamond Kings, 2 packs of 2018 Donruss, and 2 packs of 2018 Bowman. These are all Hobby packs. I always like to break down the value of the Locker based on the going price for Hobby boxes to see if I'm getting a decent price on the packs. I just take the box prices from a major online card retailer, divide those by the number of packs in a box, and multiply by the number of packs in my Locker.

2018 Diamond Kings: $75.95 / 12 = $6.33 x 1 = $6.33

2018 Donruss: $104.95 / 24 = $4.37 x 2 = $8.75

2018 Bowman: $179.95 / 24 = $7.50 x 2 = $15.00

Total: $6.33 + $8.75 + $15.00 = $30.08

Well, with the cost of the packs, hobby supplies, candy, shipping, and labor, I hope the Loot Locker folks got a good deal on their product, because this Loot Locker yielded more in packs than the $30 base price. Let's see if I pulled anything good.

I didn't find much exciting in the Diamond Kings pack. That Gabby Hartnett card has a cool picture. Other than that, I am struggling to find a lot to say about this one. Robinson Cano's injury and suspension kind of put a damper on my fantasy baseball team.

One of the Donruss packs was a Noah Syndergaard hot pack, with a Stat Line parallel and a Nickname variation appearing back to back. There were a couple of other interesting cards in the mix, including a Diamond Collection relic card of Deven Marrero, who has gone from playing not-that-great for the Red Sox Boston to playing not-that-great for the Diamondbacks Arizona.

I got a couple of neat inserts in the Bowman packs. The Ronald Acuna is a #Trending insert and the Bowman Sterling of Carlos Correa is a one-per-box insert. I like the way the Correa card looks.

Overall, this Loot Locker didn't rock my socks off. Of course, with card prices being what they are right now, it's all a big gamble. I am still not sure if I'll be grabbing another Loot Locker in June. They put a decent amount of product in there for the price, but maybe the price of cards is too high right now.