Wrapping up the medallion issue....

The Star Tribune never did reply to my e-mail, but to their credit they did produce a plan to deal with the shortage of medallions which had seemed to grow worse in the last couple days of the promotion. As I said last week, I found that the Morneau medallions had generally sold out by the afternoon of its release day. Later, I heard reports of the Torii Hunter medallion selling out in the morning as some people couldn't get one even on the way to work.

So the Strib on Thursday printed a bonus coupon which may be mailed in to redeem any one of the last four medallions in the series--Stewart, Morneau, Hunter, and a Central Champions commemorative coin--for the regular retail price of $3.18 (tax included). Any unused, original coupons for those last four medallions may also be mailed in. The postmark deadline is June 6.

Immediately, this plan knocked the stuffing out of the inflated market that had exploded for some of these coins on e-bay. Justin Morneau medallions which had selling from $21 up to $75 last Wednesday evening, now may be had for less than $6 on e-bay. Greedy sellers who set opening bids at $19.99 have been stuck paying fees on auctions that are drawing no bids. So it's gratifying to see the secondary market ruined for the profiteers, even if only temporarily, while the plan takes care of the honest collector who had been shut out in the last days of the promotion.

I wish the offer would cover any of the medallions in the series, since I know from firsthand experience that the Joe Mauer medallion was about as tough to track down as any of the last four. I've heard that Johan Santana and some of the other coins could be hard to find, especially in outstate areas, too. But kudos to the Star Tribune for finally recognizing how bad the situation had become by the final week of the promotion and making some reasonable effort to rectify the problem for their customers. I'll still have to buy a Mauer medallion on e-bay to complete my set, but at least it's just one coin I'm missing, rather than three that would be prohibitively expensive to track down. I can settle for that.