School Teacher Works Out The Maths Behind (And Total Cost Of) Completing His Panini 2014 World Cup Sticker Book

Chris Wright

29th, May 2014

3 Comments

By Chris Wright

Brazil WCup Sticker Fever

Got, got, got, need, got, got, etc, etc…

Matthew Scroggs, a secondary school teacher from West London who was presumably at something of a loose end, has crunched the numbers and calculated the minimum amount of stickers (as well as the total cost) that you will have buy in order to complete the Panini 2014 World Cup sticker album.

The official album consists of 640 stickers, with Scroggs calculating that the average collector can expect to have to purchase 4,505 stickers (that’s 901 single packets) in order to fill the entire book.

The total cost of said stickers: a mere £413.24!

Apparently, the figure is so high because it, in Mr Scroggs’ own words, “determines the probability of accruing duplicates and excludes the possibility of swapping those duplicates with other collectors.”

Speaking to the Independent, Mr Scroggs (a ten-year sticker collecting veteran) showed his working:

“I was sticking stickers in my album and wondering how many I would need to buy. Once I’d worked that out I carried on and worked out the cost… then I raided my savings account.

“I haven’t been put off by my findings at all though. Partly because I excluded swapping stickers and ordering the last ones online, so I’m hoping the actual cost will be a lot less.”

There are extenuating factors, however, with Panini’s website offering collectors to hand-chose and then purchase their final missing 100 stickers, which negates the chance of buying duplicates and therefore significantly reducing the cost of the whole endeavour – down to about £133.99, according to Mr Scroggs’ calculations.

Also, a shrewd collector should be able to get the most out of their swapsies by trading with other Panini collectors in time-honoured fashion – potentially reducing the total cost even further.

We can’t help but feel that Mr Scrogg’s may have sapped all the fun out of sticker collecting here, but we certainly hope his findings help someone out there reach ‘completion nirvana’.

(Via The Independent)

Posted in Kits & fashion, Newsnow, World Cup

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3 Comments

  1. Adam Foster says:

    it costs about £66 to fill an album using Swapstick

  2. phil webster says:

    I have just ordered the missing stickers from Panini. They actually only allow a maximum of 50 per order, you then have to put in another order so they can make a bit more money.

    They can potentially then make big money on the postage if you want them very quickly which most kids do.

    I paid the cheapest option and they were still dispatched within a few days rather than the 3 weeks quoted.

    What I noticed with this collection is the incredible lack of Korean players, with virtually all the other teams completed I still needed at around 15 of that squad, which were invariably doubles. Would be interested to know if anyone else found this, or any other unusual sticker behaviour ?

    I would say that with the ordered stickers from Panini that the whole collection came in at approximately £150.

    Another strange thing is that when you go to order your personalised sticker for the first page they only sell a minimum 10, why would you want 10 stickers to stick in one album ?

    I think after all the money spent the least they could do is send you one free personalised sticker with your final order.

    Having said all that, was great fun for me and my 7 year old son who would literally jump for joy when he completed a team, was worth it just for that :)

  3. Luke says:

    How do you even create your own sticker? Cannot work the website for the life of me!

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