The Mets Police

I don’t claim this topic is the biggest deal in the world, and this is not complaining for complaining sake, but Mets Police seems to be the only place where such topics get entertained, so let’s talk about it.

Fans are starting to get their 15 game packages in the mail. In years past they were accompanied by the media guide.

If you have never seen the media guide, imagine the best yearbook ever with months of stats and articles to read. Team history, records, game by game breakdowns, minor league recaps, official verbage that the team colors include blue not black, and even Dave Howard’s bio. It’s amazin’

This year the tickets came with a letter saying that the Mets have gone green, and we can have access to the media guide online. No hard copy was sent.

I’ve heard from some fans who are disappointed in this decision. It’s nice to have a tangible guide in your hand. It’s nice to put it on the shelf with the guides of the past.

I applaud environmental friendly efforts. However, I encourage the Mets to rethink this one.

I wonder about the ticket shipping fee. Did that go down as compared to years past when they mailed a heavy book? I haven’t checked. Perhaps in years past the Mets subsidized the shipping of the guide and didn’t pass the cost along to us.

What about the handling fee? Presumably it is easier to stuff tickets in an envelope as compared to tickets and a guide? Again I haven’t researched this so I’ll give the Mets the benefit of the doubt.

I don’t know how many media guides the Mets usually print, but zero is cheaper than x. Did they charge us full price for media guides in the past? Is this cost savings? Is this a stealth ticket price increase? Same money, fewer goods. Somewhere the math doesn’t add up, right?

I try to provide solutions. This one is easy. Today, that’s today not in three weeks when someone in the “mainstream” brings it up, ship out some media guides.

Send a letter letting fans know about all the amazin’ green efforts and despite the Mets commitment to the environment they understand passionate fans enjoy a physical guide.

Simple, right?

UPDATE:   A beat writer has confirmed that he does indeed have a hard copy.  Also, this may be an MLB wide thing.

Thanks to tweeter @citycynic (I’m @metspolice) for steering me toward photos of today’s Mets green caps.   I like this tradition, but wish they’d go all-in and wear green jerseys.  Perhaps it’s not worth the expense.

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