(Satire.)
AMES, Iowa — The owner of an Ames print shop that accidentally made a design reading "Republicant Party" instead of "Republican Party" says the stickers somehow made their way from his trash to eBay -- and he wants a cut of the sales.
"We took a loss on that order, though our customers were very forgiving," said Robert Meacham, owner of Meacham's Prints, "and that's money we can't get back. But whoever put those stickers up on eBay has stolen our merchandise, and if we can't make up that loss, we'd at least like some of the money if those things sell."
Meacham said he realized the order was botched late Thursday night and that he put the box of stickers "in the dumpster just before I headed home last night."
"I don't know how (the mistake) happened, but I still have the order to complete, so that's what I'm focused on for now. And I'm going to bring in a fresh set of eyes for the order this time."
(I wrote this back when I was still trying to fool people.)
The stickers were put up early Friday morning by user Soonergal95, apparently a 14-year-old girl who uses the site "to shop for clothes."
"She's just an adventurous kid," said her mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the possibility of pending charges against her or her daughter. "And we were out early this morning going for a jog because it's just so hot in the afternoon, and she saw something that said 'Republicant,' and I said, 'No way, show me!'"
The Iowan mother of four said she thought, "Why not have some fun and see if we can get some money for what someone else threw away?" and the two then went back to their house, got the car and drove to the dumpster in question, then back to their house again with the box of stickers, at which point the girl, "who was giggling like mad because of all the money she's sure we'll make on these, wanted to put them all up at once," the mother said.
"But we've divided them up, and we'll be selling some of them now and most of them later," she explained.
eBay representative Jenny Davis stated in an e-mail that the site "often has users put up humorous items for sale, and this is just another one of those instances." Davis said the site had no plans to remove the listings and that the issue of ownership of the stickers was for "law enforcement to decide."
As of Friday at 2 p.m. EST, the stickers in the Dutch auction had all sold, and bidding for the lot up for regular auction, a lot of 50 of the "Republicant Party" stickers, was up to $100 -- $2 per sticker.
Meacham says he doesn't begrudge the family the find, "since it's saved me a little money on my garbage bill this month," but that he'd still like some compensation given that the stickers "were paid for out of my money."
"And I'm not trying to be a mean guy here. I'd just like some compensation. I haven't even gone to the police, and technically, that's stolen property. I'd just like a percentage of whatever they get."
Meacham wouldn't say how much he's asked the family for, but he did say he has no plans to ask them to take the stickers down.
"As I've been saying," the print shop owner continued, "whatever we can get for those things, great. But I'd like some of whatever we can get."
The mother-daughter pair said they plan to talk to Meacham "once the auctions are over. Some of them are Dutch, some of them are regular-length and some we haven't put up yet because we don't want to flood the market."
Regarding what people will do with the stickers, the pair say they don't care.
"Whether someone buys them to destroy them, to wear them, as gag gifts, whatever, it's just money for clothes to us," the daughter said.
"We're not really into politics," the mother said. "I mean, I voted last fall, and I make sure my children are aware of what's going on in Iowa and around the country, but as for this fighting between the two parties, that's not our concern."
She wouldn't say for whom she voted or if she had generally voted one way or another in previous elections.
"We welcome anyone to bid early and often on these stickers," she continued. "We hope this auction gets lots of press coverage. These are just some funny stickers. And we especially think the folks at Daily Kos will get a kick out of combining NoNo the GOPosaur and these Republicant stickers."