If you have an apartment or house that you simply need filled to the ceiling with automotive swag, auto shows are the best place to get your free and pointless shit. You are handed so much branded crap at these shows that it’s frankly kind of gross. However, hocking brand shit on eBay while the press conferences are still ongoing is an exceptional sort of atrocious behavior.
You get why this is extra disgusting, right? It means that whoever is selling the kits didn’t even go home with them yet. They didn’t check around to see if they had room, decide they didn’t and then make a little extra cash online with something that someone else might like. No, it’s likely that they expressly grabbed the kit with the intention to sell it.
I’m not personally at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show myself, but it seems like Ram handed out a press kit this year that contained a book, a stone paperweight of the new truck and a USB drive (likely filled with more press materials) inside of a metal Ram logo. And already there are three listings on eBay for the kit, ranging between $9.99 and $20 for each.
In this listing, the seller notes that the buyer has to pay for the shipping. Here’s the second. And this one has an enthusiastic write up, clearly because the seller is a seasoned connoisseur of fine brand press kits from auto shows across the world:
This year’s kit is awesome! Contains a full color glossy booklet, stone paperweight and USB drive inside of a metal Ram insignia. All in all the best press kit I’ve seen from them in a long time! Available in extremely limited quantities to members of the international press.
Good God. Selling a free box that you probably snatched away from some other auto show media day attendee’s sweaty clutches? I don’t know what’s sadder: That, or nickel-and-diming a potential buyer over shipping costs.
Get fucked, everyone.
(h/t to Brandon Turkus’ Twitter!)